# commentaries

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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sing praises to Yahweh with the harp, with the harp and the voice of melody-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's invitation of others to praise God with the harp was effectively asking them to share his personal praise of God- for he was known for his personal praising of the Lord with the harp.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>With trumpets and sound of the ram’s horn make a joyful noise before the King, Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These were the trumpets which summoned Israel to keep the feasts in Zion. The idea is that the Gentiles would joyfully respond to the call to enter covenant relationship with Yahweh, and therefore keep His feasts. But the exiles didn't repent, and Ezekiel records their involvement with idol worship. As happened at Hezekiah's time, instead of Jerusalem becoming the international centre of Yahweh worship, the people instead returned to the idols of the surrounding nations.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the sea roar with its fullness; the world, and those who live therein-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that all of the planet, the sea representing the peoples, would rejoice at the prospect of the coming of Israel's Lord in judgment (:9). This is not therefore speaking of the Kingdom; but rather of David's desire that before the Lord's coming, the Gentile peoples would come to such relationship with Him that they rejoiced at the prospect of His coming in judgment, knowing by faith that they would not be condemned.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing for joy together-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The rivers and mountains are personified people because they are intended to be understood as representative of peoples and nations. The "rivers" have been used as representative of the Gentile armies which overran God's people; but they were envisaged as repenting and clapping with joy at the prospect of Yahweh's appearance in judgment; for they would repent.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh reigns! Let the nations tremble-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to be a Psalm rejoicing at the prospect of the restoration of the exiles; the Gentiles were to tremble in repentance, so that they too could join in this program. The ideas are very similar to those in Psalms 97.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sits enthroned between the cherubim: let the earth be moved-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There was envisaged a dramatic theophany which would be associated with the fall of Babylon and the restoration of God's exiled people. The cherubim which Ezekiel had seen departing from Zion would return. But this isn't what happened; Judah in exile didn't really repent, and those relatively few who did return were clearly motivated by the hope of personal benefit rather than the glory of God. Babylon didn't dramatically fall as envisaged in the prophets, there was no theophany; so much potential was wasted. But these things are rescheduled and reapplied to the final restoration of God's people at the last day:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The commands concerning the tabernacle were given to Moses by the Angel- do phrases like "Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" (<a href='B:20 25:8'>Exo 25:8</a>) have primary reference to the Angel speaking the words? In the same way, does <a href='B:230 99:1'>Psa 99:1</a> refer also to the physical presence of an Angel between the cherubim? Similarly "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel (the Angel- so Isaiah 63 describes the wilderness Angel), thou that leadest Joseph like a flock (the Angel lead them through the wilderness); thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth" (<a href='B:230 80:1'>Psa 80:1</a> AV). And again in <a href='B:230 20:1-2'>Psa 20:1-2</a> "The God of Jacob (i:e. the Angel who Jacob recognized had been so much in his life) defend thee; send thee help from the sanctuary::. ", as if it was in the sanctuary (Holy Place) that the Angel was located.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The four cherubim covered the ark, over which dwelt an Angel; <a href='B:230 99:1'>Psa 99:1</a>; <a href='B:230 99:7'>Psa 99:7</a> therefore describes the Angel as dwelling between the cherubim: "The Lord reigneth::. He sitteth between the cherubims::. He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept His testimonies, and the ordinance that He gave them". These latter things were all done by the Angel. Also relevant is <a href='B:230 68:17-18'>Psa 68:17-18</a>: "The chariots of God are::. thousands of Angels; the Lord is among them, as in::. the Holy place". One Angel, which dwelt in the Holy Place, was therefore central to those thousands of others. See too <a href='B:290 37:16-17'>Isa 37:16-17</a> on thIsa. Similarly, Isaiah saw "the King, the Lord of Hosts (Angels) sitting between the cherubim" (<a href='B:290 6:5'>Isa 6:5</a>). The phrase 'living God' may mean 'the God of the living ones', and would therefore describe this mighty Angel- it is linked with "the Lord of Hosts" (Angels) in <a href='B:300 23:36'>Jer 23:36</a> and the Angel that dwelt in the temple (<a href='B:230 42:2'>Psa 42:2</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh is great in Zion, He is high above all the peoples-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Because of God's grace to Jacob / Israel (:4), an undefined group are bidden come to Zion, to the very cherubim (:1; in the Most Holy Place) to exalt and praise God at His footstool. This group, in line with the preceding Psalms, are surely the Gentile world. "Let them praise Your great Name" (<a href='B:230 99:3'>Psa 99:3</a>) would surely make most sense if it referred to the Gentiles, seeing that David or the Psalmist was Israelite. See on <a href='B:230 96:7'>Psa 96:7</a>.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them praise Your great and awesome name: He is Holy!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "them" are the Gentile "peoples" of :2. Perhaps the triple command to 'Sing to the Lord' in the opening verses of Psalms 96 alludes to Israel's three feasts, as does the triple, repetitive verses of <a href='B:230 99:1-9'>Psa 99:1-9</a>; which likewise bid the Gentile world to come to Israel's worship. See on <a href='B:230 96:7'>Psa 96:7</a>.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The King’s strength also loves justice; You establish equity, You execute justice and righteousness in Jacob-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This looks ahead to how things will be at the final judgment: "He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity". This is quoted in <a href='B:510 17:31'>Act 17:31</a> concerning the final day of judgment at the Lord's return. But right now, justice and righteousness were to be executed and to be the basis of the restored Kingdom. For the essence of the Kingdom is now.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Exalt Yahweh our God, worship at His footstool. He is Holy!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The ark is called both the throne of God and also His footstool (<a href='B:230 99:5'>Psa 99:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:7-8'>Psa 132:7-8</a>; <a href='B:130 28:2'>1Ch 28:2</a>). Above or sitting upon the cherubim, the pagan mind expected to see Israel's God. But there was (to their eyes) an empty throne. Yahweh had to be believed in by faith. And His supreme manifestation was through the blood of sacrifice. Cassuto gives evidence that the Egyptians and Hittites placed their covenant contracts in a box beneath the throne of their gods; and the tables of the covenant were likewise placed beneath the throne of Yahweh. This similarity begged the comparison yet stronger- Israel's God was not seated there. He had to be believed in by faith. Such a concept of faith in an invisible god was quite foreign to the pagan mind; and yet the whole tabernacle plan was designed to have enough points of contact with the pagan tabernacles in order to elicit this point in very powerful form: the one true God is invisible and must be believed in.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Moses and Aaron were among His priests, Samuel among those who call on His name; they called on Yahweh, and He answered them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm invites the Gentiles to make Israel's God and history their own. For :5 was an invitation to the Gentiles to accept Israel's God. The Gentiles who chose to call upon Yahweh's Name (:3) would therefore be identified with Samuel and the great heroes of Israel's history. This of course was not what a proud and nationalistic Israel wanted to hear.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As God miraculously led Israel out of Egypt and to the promised land, so He was willing to use miracle and power to lead His people out of Babylonian exile and back to the promised land. But they were unwilling.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They kept His testimonies, the statute that He gave them-</p><h2>This was likewise required of the exiles. The "they" could refer to Moses, Aaron and Samuel- but the "them" in the context is the "them" to whom God spoke in the pillar of cloud, who were given God's law ("the statute that He gave them"). That group didn't include Samuel, who lived centuries later:&nbsp; The "them" is the group whose sinful works are to be judged by God, albeit in mercy (:8). The "them" is surely Israel- and this is in line with God's imputation of righteousness to His people, not beholding iniquity in Jacob, because He so loved them (<a href='B:40 23:21'>Num 23:21</a>). This is as big a problem for us to get our heads around as are the NT references to our appearing [Gk. 'being presented as'] faultless before the presence of His glory::. without spot in His sight.</h2>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You answered them, Yahweh our God; You are a God who forgave them, although You took vengeance for their doings-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was to be true likewise of the exiles. Forgiveness would be possible, but they had to accept that they were being punished for their sins. Ezekiel records how they insisted they had been punished wrongly and unfairly.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Psalm of thanksgiving.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David knew his sinfulness, he knew his reliance upon the grace of God, more and more as he got older. One would have thought that after the Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David's desire to teach others of God's ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two faced allegiance to Achish (<a href='B:90 27:8-12'>1Sa 27:8-12</a>). There is real stress upon this evangelistic fervour of David (<a href='B:230 4:3'>Psa 4:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 22:31'>Psa 22:31</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:9-10'>Psa 40:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 57:9'>Psa 57:9</a>; <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a>; <a href='B:230 66:5'>Psa 66:5</a>; <a href='B:230 66:16'>Psa 66:16</a>; <a href='B:230 95:1'>Psa 95:1</a>; <a href='B:230 95:8'>Psa 95:8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:5-8'>Psa 96:5-8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:10'>Psa 96:10</a>; <a href='B:230 100:1-4'>Psa 100:1-4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:1-2'>Psa 105:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>; <a href='B:230 145:5-6'>Psa 145:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 145:12'>Psa 145:12</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:230 71:18'>Psa 71:18</a> records the "old and greyheaded" David pleading with God not to die until he had taught "thy strength unto this generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others. David&nbsp;therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the pureness of God's grace. He didn't do this as some kind of self-help psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and God's mercy, and the wonderful willingness&nbsp;of God to extend this to men.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm may also have been used by or for the exiles, envisaging the day when the Gentiles would be invited to repent and join the exiles in forming a multiethnic people of God worshipping at the restored Zion. </p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Serve Yahweh with gladness, come before His presence with singing-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Coming before Yahweh's presence would be an invitation to Gentiles (:1) to come and keep the feasts in the tabernacle. That Gentiles should be urged to come before His presence was a radical paradigm break with Israel's conception of themselves as God's unique people. And inviting them to "serve" Him there with singing would imply Gentiles were being asked to be priests, singing like the Levites.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Know that Yahweh, He is God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again is an invitation to the Gentiles, perhaps initially in David's time and then later at the restoration. Yahweh and not their idols was "God". The tragedy was that Israel were serving idols at the time of the restoration as Ezekiel makes clear.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is He who has made us and not we ourselves, and we are HIsa. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is a fair argument against a belief in evolution ex nihilo. We did not make ourselves, we were specifically created; and it is belief in this which leads us to trust in Him, that we are therefore His, His sheep, just as a creator intimately owns that which their own hands have created. But the essential argument is that these are the words of a repentant Israel, urging the Gentiles to join them in covenant relationship with God as equal sheep, "His", in "His pasture", a restored Israel. And it was this which they found so hard to do- to invite the Gentiles to become the sheep of Yahweh's pasture along with them. And the Jews became elitist and xenophobic in exile and at their return to "His pasture". It was the Lord Jesus who arose as the one shepherd over the flocks of both Jews and Gentiles, seeing the exiles refused to realize the potentials at their time.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, and bless His name-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again is a hearty invitation to enter into the rebuilt courts of the temple with praise; and to praise a God in the God's temple meant you had accepted that God. The peoples of the time usually only changed gods because they had been militarily dominated by the people of those other gods. This is why Judah were so abhorrent for changing their gods from Yahweh to the idols of the nations around them; and they stood out amongst the nations for doing so (<a href='B:300 2:11'>Jer 2:11</a>). But here we have a repentant Israel urging the Gentiles to change their gods and accept Yahweh; on the basis of His utter grace and salvation. And they are envisaged as succeeding. But the reality at the time of the restoration was far different; and the temple finally rebuilt had a court for the Gentiles and a sign erected threatening Gentiles with death if they passed into "His gates::. into His courts". </p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Yahweh is good, His grace endures forever, His faithfulness to all generations- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :4, to appeal to other nations to change their gods was unheard of, unless that other nation had been dominated by force. But this appeal to the Gentiles was not at all on the basis of forceful domination. Rather was the root of the appeal the experience of His grace, which was eternal- it had promise of life eternal. Such grace and such a gift were of course unheard of in any other belief system or god.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Psalm of David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm appears to be David's expression of faith that he would one day be king. And he promises to reign in a Godly manner. It could also have been his Psalm for his ascendancy to the throne; or perhaps it was first written after Samuel anointed him.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will sing of grace and justice. To You, Yahweh, I will sing praises-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Mercy and truth" ("grace and justice") were to be the basis of David's throne because that is what upheld God's throne. And David was to reign on God's behalf, his throne was to be as God's throne (<a href='B:290 16:5'>Isa 16:5</a>; <a href='B:230 89:14'>Psa 89:14</a>; <a href='B:230 101:1'>Psa 101:1</a>). Solomon liked to imagine that his throne was likewise upheld by God as His throne, also on the basis of "mercy and truth" ("grace and justice"). But he assumed that would happen automatically, whereas David's response to this is given in Psalms 101 - he vows that he will personally reign in "grace and justice", whereas Solomon assumes that God will provide the "grace and justice" ("mercy and truth") as it were automatically (<a href='B:240 20:28'>Pro 20:28</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will be careful to live a blameless life. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a blameless heart-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's heart was not consistently of integrity, as we see in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah; it was only by grace that David was counted like this (s:w. <a href='B:110 9:4'>1Ki 9:4</a>). It was indeed whilst walking within his own house that he revealed the lustful state of his heart. We query whether David was right to promise to "live a blameless life", especially since he recognizes that "a blameless life" reflects "a blameless heart". How we think in our hearts is how we live. He is clearly over confident of his own self control and righteousness. The question "When will You come to me?" is likely his request that the promise of his kingship be fulfilled soon.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will set no vile thing before my eyes; I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "vile thing" in view was likely idolatry; "faithless men", AV "them that turn aside", were those who left Yahweh for idolatry. He probably has in view Saul and his men. But David walked within his house later and looked lustfully with his eyes at Bathsheba (:2). This was his idolatry. "Not cling to me" is a quote from the law's prohibition of idolatry (<a href='B:50 13:17'>Deu 13:17</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with evil-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We could understand this as AV, referring to men of perverse heart and evil doers, who David says he will put far away from his court and kingdom. He correctly understands that evil action reflects wrong thinking in the heart. But again we pause to consider that David appears over confident in his ability to judge the hearts of men, just as he was over confident in pledging that he would have a "blameless heart" himself (:2). He was to learn that he, a man after God's own heart, could still commit lust and adultery in his heart and be led thereby into the actual sin. Things were far from as black and white as he imagined in his youth.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbour. I won’t tolerate one who is haughty and conceited-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David took a strong view against slander- having suffered so much of it himself. He vowed to put to death, i:e. to set up the death sentence, for anyone caught privately slandering or backbiting against a neighbour (<a href='B:230 101:5'>Psa 101:5</a> Heb:). That’s how bad are backbiting and slander, however quietly (“privily”, the AV quaintly says) they’re done. And of course the Lord shared this understanding, by teaching that hatred of our brother is in fact the kind of murder which carried the death penalty in Old Testament times.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Chaldee and some LXX versions have "He who speaks with the triple tongue against his neighbour". The triple reference would be to the slanderer himself, the man slandered, and the person to whom the slander is told. All three are damaged by the "triple tongue"; and we see this has timeless relevance and truth.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he will serve me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We wonder at David's possible arrogance in assuming that he (:2) or any man can walk blamelessly; and that he could judge men that well, that he would only allow the "perfect" into his court and cabinet. Only the Lord Jesus fits thIsa. And yet this is the phrase used in God's command to Abraham and his seed (<a href='B:10 17:1'>Gen 17:1</a>), and it is maybe to this which David alludes. It was only possible for Abraham to do so by his faith in imputed righteousness, by grace through faith. But it's questionable as to whether David at this point realized that; he had to learn it through reflection upon the wonder of how God had counted him righteous after the sin with Bathsheba.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Speaks falsehood" reflects again David's deep sense of injustice (see on <a href='B:230 35:7'>Psa 35:7</a>). He uses the word for "false witness", as if they were breaking one of the ten commandments; and he uses it often, heaping condemnation upon any who dare lie / bear false witness about him (<a href='B:230 38:19'>Psa 38:19</a>; <a href='B:230 52:3'>Psa 52:3</a>; <a href='B:230 63:11'>Psa 63:11</a>; <a href='B:230 101:7'>Psa 101:7</a>; <a href='B:230 119:29'>Psa 119:29</a>; <a href='B:230 119:69'>Psa 119:69</a>; <a href='B:230 119:86'>Psa 119:86</a>; <a href='B:230 119:118'>Psa 119:118</a>; <a href='B:230 120:2'>Psa 120:2</a>; <a href='B:230 144:8'>Psa 144:8</a>; <a href='B:230 144:11'>Psa 144:11</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And yet David lied and deceived in order to get Uriah killed so that he could take his wife for himself. Surely reflection upon that sin made him realize that his zeal to condemn dishonesty was at best misplaced; to lament it is one thing, but David was to be taught that he had himself done the very thing he so condemned. David plotted the destruction of Uriah by his false words; and when he repented of this in <a href='B:230 32:2'>Psa 32:2</a>, he says that lack of deceit / guile (s:w:) is only possible through imputed righteousness. David's intolerance of "deceitful" persons (<a href='B:230 52:2'>Psa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:230 101:7'>Psa 101:7</a>; <a href='B:230 120:3'>Psa 120:3</a>) must be compared with the fact that he himself was only counted as not deceitful by grace; for he was very deceitful regarding Uriah.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to have begun as a prayer by David, lamenting that his promised restoration hasn't come, and that he continues to be in suffering. But it was appropriated by the exiles, who had the same feeling and complaint.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hear my prayer, Yahweh! Let my cry come in to You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A number of Psalms appear to have some verses relevant to the exile, and others relevant to earlier historical situations. It would seem that an inspired writer inserted the verses which spoke specifically to the exilic situation. Psalms 102 is an example. <a href='B:230 102:2-12'>Psa 102:2-12</a>; <a href='B:230 102:24-25'>Psa 102:24-25</a> a appear to be the original lament; and the other verses are relevant to the exile. This was all done under the process of Divine inspiration.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t hide Your face from me in the day of my distress, turn Your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David asked God not to hide his face from him, David personally, (<a href='B:230 27:9'>Psa 27:9</a>; <a href='B:230 69:17'>Psa 69:17</a>; <a href='B:230 102:2'>Psa 102:2</a>; <a href='B:230 143:7'>Psa 143:7</a>), but to hide His face from David’s sins (<a href='B:230 51:9'>Psa 51:9</a>). And one wonders whether the way the records of the Lord’s temptations are written implies some similar recognition by the Spirit of the two ‘men’ within the Lord. Recognizing the existence of the new and old men within him, Paul can speak in Romans 7 as if he is two different people; “I myself serve the law of God”, but “my flesh” serves sin:&nbsp;</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For my days consume away like smoke, my bones are burned as a torch-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David feels he is about to die, seeing similarities between himself and Job. And these feelings were identified with by the exiles, who perhaps felt that the national life of Israel was at an end.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My heart is blighted like grass and withered, for I forget to eat my bread-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Despite his undoubted physique stamina, David was a broken man, even quite early in his life, prone to fits of introspection; dramatic mood-swings (cp. <a href='B:90 24:14'>1Sa 24:14</a> with <a href='B:90 25:6'>1Sa 25:6</a>; <a href='B:90 25:22'>1Sa 25:22</a>; <a href='B:90 25:34'>1Sa 25:34</a>;), sometimes appearing a real 'softie' but hard as nails at others (consider <a href='B:230 75:10'>Psa 75:10</a> and the whole of Psalms 101); easily getting carried away: be it with excessive emotional enthusiasm for bringing the ark back, in his harsh response to Hanun humbling his servants, his over-hasty and emotional decision to let Amnon go to Absalom's feast when it was obvious what might well transpire, his anger "flaring up" because of incompetency (<a href='B:100 11:20'>2Sa 11:20</a> NIV),&nbsp; or in his ridiculous softness for Absalom. He had a heart cruelly torn so many ways. All these traits are amply reflected in the Psalms: <a href='B:230 6:7'>Psa 6:7</a>; <a href='B:230 31:10'>Psa 31:10</a>; <a href='B:230 42:3'>Psa 42:3</a>; <a href='B:230 42:6'>Psa 42:6</a>; <a href='B:230 38:8'>Psa 38:8</a>; <a href='B:230 55:4'>Psa 55:4</a>; <a href='B:230 56:8'>Psa 56:8</a>; <a href='B:230 69:3'>Psa 69:3</a>; <a href='B:230 69:29'>Psa 69:29</a>; <a href='B:230 88:3'>Psa 88:3</a>; <a href='B:230 88:9'>Psa 88:9</a>; <a href='B:230 94:19'>Psa 94:19</a> (what introspection!); 102:4; 116:3; 143:4.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my skin-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This has connections with David's Psalms of suffering at the time of Absalom's rebellion, which are often applied to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus on the cross. He there also knew the feelings of the exiles.</p>&nbsp;&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I am like a pelican of the wilderness, I have become as an owl of the waste places-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These were ritually unclean birds. The exiles felt unclean, without access to the cleansing rituals of the law because they required a temple and priesthood which had been destroyed. They were thereby driven to seek their cleansing not by law but by grace. LXX heightens the application to the ruined Zion: "like an owl in a ruined house". Often David likens his enemies' plans to catch him as snares, gins etc. set for birds (e:g. <a href='B:230 84:3'>Psa 84:3</a>; <a href='B:230 102:6'>Psa 102:6</a>; Psalms 124; Psalms 7; <a href='B:230 140:5'>Psa 140:5</a>)- all the language of hunting birds. He had probably done plenty of this as a youngster caring for the sheep, and the influence of those formative years remained.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The connection between watching and feeling like a sparrow is in the way that David, Hezekiah, the exiles etc. all 'watched' or waited for God to respond and intervene, and His apparent silence made them feel alone. The Psalm originated in David's feelings of dejection whilst enduring the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba- which all began with his lustful looking from his housetop. And he now feels alone on that housetop; for one result of sin is psychological isolation. Yet through that loneliness there is enabled even more powerful and intimate connection with God.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My enemies reproach me all day, those who are mad at me use my name as a curse-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "they that praised me have sworn against me". The initial application was probably to the rebellion of David's former friends, when they joined forces with Absalom. The language is again based upon Job, whose book was probably one of the few scriptures available to David. The application to the exiles is very clear.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may be another allusion to Job (see on :8), attempting to describe in words his grief. But it could also be a reference to his fasting which had apparently not brought about any response from God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>because of Your indignation and Your wrath; for You have taken me up, and thrown me away-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is, lifted me up and thrown me down. This could refer to David's sense of having been exalted to the throne, and then apparently cast down at Absalom's rebellion. But the idea also alludes to a lion, lifting up and then throwing down the prey it has caught. The Babylonians were likened to lions, and this indeed is how they treated Judah.</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My days are like a long shadow, I have withered like grass-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>After the initial application to David, there is clearly some reference to Hezekiah, whose days were lengthened by the shadow on the sundial being changed. LXX "have declined like a shadow". The same ideas are in <a href='B:230 109:23'>Psa 109:23</a>. David's feelings at this time are also appropriate to Hezekiah, whose feelings were responded to by God by making the shadow of the sundial reverse. The same words are used in <a href='B:120 20:10'>2Ki 20:10</a>. But the withering like grass is the language of the restoration prophecy of <a href='B:290 40:7-8'>Isa 40:7-8</a>. Even though the grass of that generation might wither, the prophetic word of restoration would ultimately come true:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But You, Yahweh, will remain forever; Your renown endures to all generations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Despite the pain and struggle arising from feeling that God isn't coming through for the psalmist as he expects, there is this significant statement beginning "But::.". Faith remains strong in God and His eternal purpose and the continual, eventual articulation of His name. This kind of juxtaposition of doubt and ultimate faith is common in Job and the Psalms and should be our pattern to:&nbsp;</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for it is time to have pity on her, yes, the set time has come-</p><h2>When “the time to favour Zion” came, at the end of the 70 years, God’s servants Israel were to “take pleasure in her stones, and favour [even] the dust thereof”; and then, “when the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory” (<a href='B:230 102:13-16'>Psa 102:13-16</a>). But the few Jews who returned chose not to live in Jerusalem, preferring to carve out for themselves farmsteads in the countryside (<a href='B:160 11:1'>Neh 11:1</a>), and the strength of those that shifted the rubble in Jerusalem decayed</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>they saw her dust and scattered stones as a nuisance, and didn’t take pleasure in them (<a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a>). And so the Lord could not then appear in glory:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "set time" of 70 years was however elastic; as Daniel and Ezekiel were taught. The period was extended due to Judah's impenitence, and Daniel 9 explains how it was turned into seventy sevens::. and the final restoration of a redefined Zion was to be through the work of the Lord Jesus.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"The set time" is a phrase used about the feasts, and there is reason to believe that God delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrians at Passover time (see on <a href='B:230 75:2'>Psa 75:2</a>) and would do so again. All these things look forward to the final "time" coming for Zion's final deliverance at the last day.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity on her dust-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was only true of a minority, for the majority preferred the opulence of Babylon to the rubble of Jerusalem. And as noted on :13, the few who did return initially preferred not to live in Jerusalem. But the argument of the psalmist is that as the exiles had "pity" on the dust of Jerusalem, so God should "pity" Zion (:13). But the reality was that most of the exiles didn't "pity" Zion as God did, and thus precluded His potential program for her restoration into the Kingdom of God on earth at that time.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>So the nations will fear the name of Yahweh; all the kings of the earth Your glory-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Psalms 102 has many connections with the events during the time of Hezekiah, when after the salvation of Zion, the surrounding nations in the land promised to Abraham came up to worship there. Here, “the nations” refers specifically to “the kings of the earth / land”. And one wonders how many other times the phrase “the nations</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> of the earth” refers specifically to the powers in the land from the Nile to the Euphrates. But the great prophetic potential at this time was precluded by Hezekiah welcoming those kings to see his glory rather than God's; and then going after their gods, rather than leading those nations to the God of Israel. Likewise the restoration was intended to lead the nations within the eretz promised to Abraham to see Yahweh's glory, which was intended to shine forth literally and morally from Zion. But this didn't happen, and the restoration was characterized by apostasy, whilst the Jews who remained in Babylon continued in their idolatry, as Ezekiel records.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Yahweh has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He had not then done so (:13)- the earlier part of the Psalm laments thIsa. But the Psalmist believed in God’s prophecies of doing so, and considered them as good as already fulfilled. Faith is all about adopting God’s perspective, seeing future promises as if they have already been fulfilled, thereby enabling us to live the Kingdom life now in its essence. But LXX reads this in the future tense: "For the Lord shall build up Sion, and shall appear in his glory". This glory of Yahweh appearing in Zion is a theme of the restoration prophecies of later Isaiah. This could have happened, had the exiles rebuilt the temple as commanded in Ezekiel 40-48. But they didn't, and so the shekinah glory didn't return to the temple as envisaged in the prophecies.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :16, the prayer had not yet been answered. But faith is about feeling and acting as if our prayers have been answered even when they haven't been (<a href='B:480 11:24'>Mar 11:24</a>). The captives were despised (s:w. <a href='B:160 2:19'>Neh 2:19</a>) as David was for his sin (s:w. <a href='B:230 22:6'>Psa 22:6</a>; <a href='B:230 22:24'>Psa 22:24</a>), and as was the Lord Jesus on the cross (s:w. <a href='B:290 53:3'>Isa 53:3</a>), but God did not despise them and would destroy that opposition. Yet perhaps it had a historical basis in David appreciating that although he had despised God in his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah (s:w. <a href='B:100 12:10'>2Sa 12:10</a>), God by grace had not despised him. Because God did not despise David's contrite and broken heart (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:17'>Psa 51:17</a>, a passage also alluded to in :31). The exiles had likewise despised God (s:w. <a href='B:330 16:59'>Eze 16:59</a>) but would not be despised by God.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise Yah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This connects with Isaiah's restoration prophecies of a new creation, of a multiethnic people of God comprised of repentant Jews as well as those of the nations amongst whom they had been in exile. But this didn't happen. The people didn't repent as required. And so the prophetic potential of a new creation of a new people of God was reapplied and rescheduled to the new creation of that people which occurs "in Christ" (<a href='B:540 5:17'>2Co 5:17</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He has looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven, Yahweh saw the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an awesome conception; that God in Heaven 'sees the earth'. That the huge distance between God and man is collapsed. God's sanctuary was in ruins on earth, but still existed in Heaven.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>to hear the groans of the prisoner-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same phrase used of God hearing the groans of Israel in Egypt. The idea was that God would miraculously empower an exodus from Babylon just as He had delivered His people from Egypt. Tragically, most of them preferred to remain in Babylon.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>To free those who are condemned to death-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "to loosen the sons of the slain". This would mean that the Psalm refers to the second generation of exiles, whose parents had been slain. For the exiles in Babylon / Persia were prosperous, as witnessed by the situation in the book of Esther. They were not "condemned to death"; although perhaps Haman's persecution is here in view.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that men may declare the name of Yahweh in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that the "men" who would return in the new exodus from Babylon (see on :20) would be Gentiles as well as Jews; and this is confirmed in :22. Praise is here defined as declaring the Yahweh Name. Praise is about appreciating the characteristics of Yahweh, which is what His "Name" is all about; and declaring them in praise. It was God who declared His Name to Moses, but here we have Gentiles declaring that same Name, having come in homage to Jerusalem to do so. This was the potential at the restoration, but the prophetic program was rescheduled and reinterpreted.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>when the peoples are gathered together, the kingdoms, to serve Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Gentiles were to gather together to Jerusalem "to serve Yahweh", language appropriate to priestly service. They who had gathered together against Jerusalem in battle were to repent and again gather together there, but as the priesthood in the new people of God who were to be created (see on :18):&nbsp;</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He weakened my strength along the course, He shortened my days-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "He answered him in the way of his strength". God's strength is contrasted with the Psalmist who feels his days have been "shortened". This may initially refer to David at the time of his disease after the sin with Bathsheba, feeling he was going to die young. But it has clearly been reapplied to Hezekiah's feelings when his days were shortened and then lengthened by God's grace:&nbsp;</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I said, My God, don’t take me away in the midst of my days. Your years are throughout all generations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :23, both David and Hezekiah felt their lives were being ended in the middle. The appeal for healing and more life is based upon God's eternity. The psalmist is asking for God to share something of His eternity with him. And this will be ultimately true when we partake of His immortality at the last day.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Of old, You laid the foundation of the earth, the heavens are the work of Your hands-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The language of laying foundations is nearly always used about the laying of the foundations of the new, rebuilt temple at the time of return from exile (<a href='B:150 3:10-12'>Ezr 3:10-12</a>; <a href='B:150 5:16'>Ezr 5:16</a>; <a href='B:290 44:28'>Isa 44:28</a>; <a href='B:440 2:18'>Hag 2:18</a>; <a href='B:450 4:9'>Zec 4:9</a>; <a href='B:450 8:9'>Zec 8:9</a>); and this is the context of this Psalm (see on :13 and :16). The ‘heavens and earth’ refer to Israel (<a href='B:290 1:2'>Isa 1:2</a>) and the temple. Although they had ‘perished’ in the Babylonian invasion and destruction of the first temple, God remained and would, the Psalmist believed, install a new temple system (as outlined in Ezekiel 40-48). However, this never quite happened as God intended due to Judah’s weakness, and so these prophecies were reapplied to how the entire Jewish system based around the temple and Law of Moses would ‘perish’ and God’s new temple system based around the exalted Lord Jesus would come into existence (<a href='B:650 1:10'>Heb 1:10</a> and context).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They perish, but You will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the same way as the Angels are so closely associated with their charges that they are identified with them, so the Angels are described as the things in the natural world which they have created. The quotation of <a href='B:230 102:26'>Psa 102:26</a> in <a href='B:650 1:10'>Heb 1:10</a> can appear to pose major problems for belief in the humanity of Christ and that the world will never be destroyed. "And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations&nbsp; of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands: they shall perish, but Thou remainest, and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail". The context in Hebrews is again Christ's superiority over the Angels; however, the context in Psalms 102 is of Christ on the cross thinking of the eternity of God, how that "of old", "in the beginning" (clearly alluding&nbsp; back to the beginning of the natural creation in Genesis 1), God created the Heavens and earth by His Angel-hands. But "they shall perish. . wax old like a garment. . as a vesture shalt thou change them" (<a href='B:230 102:26'>Psa 102:26</a>). This language is similar to that used elsewhere about the ending of the Angel-oriented Mosaic Law (e. g. <a href='B:650 8:13'>Heb 8:13</a>). Thus the literal Heavens and earth will not perish, but the Angelic system that created them will do. Thus both the natural creation and the Mosaic system are identified exactly with the Angels that created them.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The purpose of the quotation in Hebrews 1 is to demonstrate the Lord's superiority over Angels. One approach is to understand the Hebraic way of stating that 'even X shall happen to prove the greatness of Y'; e:g. heaven could pass away [X] but the Lord's words would not [Y] (<a href='B:470 24:35'>Mat 24:35</a>). This is not to say that X shall literally happen; it is stated as a hyperbole, to demonstrate the greatness of Y. And that may be the case here too. God's eternity is contrasted with the [relative] passing of the Heavens, which were made by Angels. "They shall perish" may not therefore mean they shall literally perish. See on <a href='B:230 103:20'>Psa 103:20</a>.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The context of Psalms 102 is however pertinent. The "set time [had] come" suggests that the Psalmist is writing maybe in captivity in Babylon as the predicted 70 years of Judah’s captivity there came to a close, and he looks forward to the promised restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem. He enthuses in :16 that "Yahweh has built up Zion"- although He had not then done so (:13). The earlier part of the Psalm laments thIsa. But the Psalmist believed in God’s prophecies of doing so, and considered them as good as already fulfilled. Faith is all about adopting God’s perspective, seeing future promises as if they have already been fulfilled, thereby enabling us to live the Kingdom life now in its essence. See on :25.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Jewish system would be rolled up, as a scroll that is not going to be read any more; the Law would end. But Messiah would remain eternally. It was the Lord Jesus by His sacrifice which changed the Jewish system. The same Greek word (used in the LXX and the quotation in <a href='B:650 1:12'>Heb 1:12</a>) is used of the Lord's 'changing' the customs delivered by Moses (<a href='B:510 6:14'>Act 6:14</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But You are the same, Your years will have no end-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 1:10'>Heb 1:10</a> appears to quote words about God (from <a href='B:230 102:25'>Psa 102:25</a>) and apply them to Jesus. To take a Psalm or Bible passage and apply it to someone on earth, even a normal human, was quite common in first century literature (Oscar Cullmann, The Christology Of The New Testament (London: SCM, 1971) p. 234). It's rather like we may quote a well known phrase from Shakespeare or a currently popular movie, and apply it to someone. It doesn't mean that that person is to be equated with Romeo, Juliet, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth etc. By quoting the words about them, we're saying there are similarities between the two people or situations; we're not claiming they're identical. And seeing that the Son of God was functioning for His Father, it's not surprising that words about God will be quoted about the Lord Jesus.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>By David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have often suggested that the Psalms are often paired together. Psalms 103 appears to continue the faith expressed in Psalms 102; that whatever present appearances, God's purpose to ultimately restore David and his throne / kingdom was going to come true, finally. The exiles doubted it, but the faithful remnant were to rejoice that finally, it would come true- even if not in their lifetimes. Such confident joy presupposes a firm faith and understanding of the resurrection of the body at the final eternal restoration of Zion.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise His holy name!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is a repeated Biblical theme that the believer's relationship with the Father is essentially mutual. He has blessed us with all things (<a href='B:560 1:3'>Eph 1:3</a>), and we all bless Him with all that is in us (<a href='B:230 103:1'>Psa 103:1</a>; <a href='B:230 103:22'>Psa 103:22</a>; <a href='B:560 1:3'>Eph 1:3</a>). </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all His benefits-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David often takes strength from God's previous deliverances to cope with whatever he was now facing (<a href='B:230 61:3'>Psa 61:3</a>). This may sound natural, but in fact it isn't; because we are inclined to forget the great things He has done for us, as Israel did in the desert. We all have a tendency to see the glass half empty rather than half full. Hence the need to continually remind ourselves to not forget all His benefits; and they are particularly expressed in the form of His forgiveness and avowed intention to finally save us (:3,4). Hezekiah, to whom Psalms 102 (which seems paired with Psalms 103) partly applies, did forget Yahweh's benefits to him (s:w. <a href='B:140 32:25'>2Ch 32:25</a>). But "benefits" is also the word used for "rewards", which rewards of judgment are promised to Babylon and all who abused the exiles (<a href='B:230 137:8'>Psa 137:8</a>; <a href='B:290 35:4'>Isa 35:4</a>; <a href='B:290 59:18'>Isa 59:18</a>; <a href='B:300 51:6'>Jer 51:6</a>; <a href='B:310 3:64'>Lam 3:64</a>). The downtrodden were to take comfort in judgment to come.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The blessing which should never be forgotten (:2) is supremely our forgiveness. Hezekiah had been healed, but he forgot that great "benefit" (:2; s:w. <a href='B:140 32:25'>2Ch 32:25</a>). In those times when we consider our cup half empty rather than half full, we will be helped to appreciate "all His benefits" if we recall our own forgiveness received. It is those who refuse to accept their own sinfulness who tend to question where God's promised blessings are.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with grace and tender mercies-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :2,3, the great blessing is of forgiveness and grace. God's "mercy and truth" (s:w. "grace::. mercies") is seen in the fulfilment of His promises to David and Abraham. This day of crowning is not now; it is at the time when our life is redeemed from death / destruction. This hope of the future resurrection of the body is the great "benefit" of :2 which we must never forget, and which gives perspective to all current sufferings.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "desire" of all the truly spiritual is for redemption from death (:4) through resurrection to eternal life, and the receipt of forgiveness (:3). It is these desires of our soul which will definitely be met, if indeed they are our dominant desires. As God doesn’t faint or weary, so somehow those who identify their lives with His will also keep on keeping on- even now (<a href='B:290 40:31'>Isa 40:31</a> cp. 29). This was clearly the promise to the exiles, if they realized the prophetic potential for them explained in Isaiah 40. David felt that his youth was renewed like the eagle's in his repeated experience of God's grace (<a href='B:230 103:5'>Psa 103:5</a>), that his soul was restored (<a href='B:230 23:5'>Psa 23:5</a>), and that a right spirit could be renewed by God within him (<a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a>). This is the equivalent of the "newness of life" which is promised to us through acceptance of God's Spirit.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles and David at times felt they were suffering injustice. But the comfort is that God has historically been just to the oppressed and executed judgment, especially at the Red Sea. This is where faith comes in. If we feel we are suffering intolerable injustice, this is no reason to doubt God; for He has operated extreme justice in the past, and shall do so ultimately.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David so often parallels righteousness and justice / truth (<a href='B:230 9:8'>Psa 9:8</a>; <a href='B:230 33:5'>Psa 33:5</a>; <a href='B:230 37:6'>Psa 37:6</a>; <a href='B:230 72:2'>Psa 72:2</a>; <a href='B:230 94:15'>Psa 94:15</a>; <a href='B:230 99:7'>Psa 99:7</a>; <a href='B:230 103:6'>Psa 103:6</a>; <a href='B:230 106:3'>Psa 106:3</a>). Indeed, this parallel is so common in God's word. What it means is that the righteousness of God is a just righteousness. It's not fake, 'I'll turn a blind eye'. It is true, real, valid, and has integrity underpinned in the very essential justice of God Himself. Justice and righteousness may appear abstract ideas, mere theology. But the result is that the person who believes God's righteousness is imputed to him or her::. will feel this, they will know it to be true, they can by grace, in faith, quietly hold their head up before God. And David after Bathsheba is our example. He believed and felt this imputed righteousness. It's not so much a case of 'forgiving ourselves' after God has forgiven us, but rather of being swamped by this very real and legitimate sense that truly, we have been counted righteous. And Paul in Romans holds up David after Bathsheba as the personal example to "every one who is Godly" in their time of spiritual need. See on <a href='B:230 41:12'>Psa 41:12</a>.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the children of Israel-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could refer to the revelation of God's law to Israel. The commands which constituted the covenant were given to Moses personally (<a href='B:160 1:7-8'>Neh 1:7-8</a>), insofar as he represented Israel. Thus there is a parallel drawn in <a href='B:230 103:7'>Psa 103:7</a>: "He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel". "After the tenor of these words have I made a covenant with you [Moses] and with Israel" (<a href='B:20 34:27'>Exo 34:27</a>). The revelation of God's law was therefore cited as an example of His love and grace; it is not to be seen as an onerous burden laid upon Israel.</p><h2>But the reference could also be to God's revelation of Himself through His saving deeds towards Israel at the Red Sea, or to the declaration of His Name in Exodus 34 (see on :8). Just as is true today, and as is often mentioned in Psalms 119, God is willing to operate directly on the hearts of men in a way over and above His written word. David realized this, and asked to be taught and shown God's ways (<a href='B:230 25:4'>Psa 25:4</a>; <a href='B:230 143:8'>Psa 143:8</a>). Knowledge in its ultimate, spiritual sense is not attained simply by reading or hearing the text of the Bible; not that I am at all decrying that. But there is a higher, Divine hand at work in making us know Divine knowledge. Moses had prayed the same words in <a href='B:20 33:13'>Exo 33:13</a>: "Show me [make me to know] Your way, that I may know [s:w. "show"] You [and] find grace in Your sight". The gift of knowledge, in the Hebraic sense of relationship, is related to God's grace. That knowledge which is in view is not the same as technical, theological knowledge. Moses' prayer was answered; the same words are used here in saying that God "made known His ways to Moses":&nbsp;</h2>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in grace-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an appeal to the essential characteristics of Yahweh as declared to Moses in Exodus 34, and it is perhaps to this that :7 refers. On one hand, God does not become quickly angry (<a href='B:230 103:8'>Psa 103:8</a>), and yet on the other hand He does&nbsp;get angry quickly in the sense that He immediately feels and responds to sin (<a href='B:230 2:12'>Psa 2:12</a>); His anger ‘flares up in His face’. The implication is that we should respond ‘quickly’ to the Gospel; we should not have any element of indifference in our response to the call of God, and yet the foundations of a true spiritual life cannot be laid hastily. </p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will not always accuse; neither will He stay angry forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may be answer to the complaint of the exiles that God through the prophets was always 'accusing' them through the prophetic words. But "accuse" is the word for 'striving', and it was Israel who had chosen to strive with God (s:w. <a href='B:290 45:9'>Isa 45:9</a> and often). From God's side, His 'accusing' was more of a pleading with His people (s:w. <a href='B:300 2:9'>Jer 2:9</a>; <a href='B:300 2:29'>Jer 2:29</a>), pleading for their loyalty and repentance (s:w. <a href='B:350 2:2'>Hos 2:2</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was exactly the case with the exiles, who were punished far less than their sins deserved (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>). All complaint at unreasonable behaviour from God was therefore utterly inappropriate, and was rooted in a sense that Israel had done absolutely nothing wrong and that any consequence for sin was therefore unreasonable.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His grace toward those who fear Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same word used for how David's sins "overwhelmed me" (<a href='B:230 65:3'>Psa 65:3</a>) is used of how overwhelming or "great" is God's grace (<a href='B:230 103:11'>Psa 103:11</a>; <a href='B:230 117:2'>Psa 117:2</a>). David felt overwhelmed firstly by his sin and then by God's grace. This explains his fragile emotional and nervous state, as often reflected in the Psalms. But his path is to be that of all God's true Israel, and his repentance and restoration was intended to be the path for the exiles.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was appropriate to Hezekiah (<a href='B:290 38:17'>Isa 38:17</a>), but he like the exiles failed to have an abiding awareness of the magnitude of the wonder of forgiveness. The idea is that God deals with us separate to our sins; He removes those sins "from us", they are totally removed from us personally. This is another window onto what it means to be accounted righteous, to have righteousness imputed by grace through faith. God had removed His people far from Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 6:12'>Isa 6:12</a>; <a href='B:290 26:15'>Isa 26:15</a>; <a href='B:300 27:10'>Jer 27:10</a>) because they had removed their hearts far from Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 29:13'>Isa 29:13</a>; <a href='B:300 2:5'>Jer 2:5</a>; <a href='B:330 44:10'>Eze 44:10</a>). So now the psalmist is asking God to remove their sins far away, but to come near to them personally.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Like a father has compassion on His children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>That "compassion" is not simply in that a father forgives a repentant child. Fatherly compassion is more than that; it is compassion upon the position of the child regardless of repentance. Simply because he is the father of the child. This statement may be a tacit request by the psalmist for God to all the same restore His people from their exile simply on the basis of His grace and compassion, for most of them had not repented. The word for "compassion" is used of how God would have compassion on His people if they repented whilst in exile (<a href='B:50 30:3'>Deu 30:3</a>). But the psalmist seems to plead for that compassion to be shown simply because they were His children.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He knows how we are made, He remembers that we are dust-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is effectively a plea with God to remember that "we are dust" and to show compassion on the basis of the weakness of our humanity (see on :13). But the basis for that compassion was to be Israel's repentance (<a href='B:50 30:13'>Deu 30:13</a> etc:). But here the psalmist seems to plead some kind of idea that our nature makes us inevitable sinners, and so God should show compassion on that basIsa. We aren't inevitable sinners, and whatever we posit about human nature, we say about the Lord Jesus who was perfect and spotless despite fully having that same nature as we do. So the plea appears rather lacking in integrity. And yet it is true; God does remember that we are dust, and He does have compassion for reasons other than that His people have repented (s:w. <a href='B:120 13:23'>2Ki 13:23</a>). His compassion is therefore on the basis of His mercy and grace, rather than a proportionate response to steel willed human repentance and self reformation (s:w. <a href='B:230 116:5'>Psa 116:5</a>). His compassion is actually always there for His children, even when they are in exiled punishment from Him (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:20'>Jer 31:20</a>; <a href='B:300 33:26'>Jer 33:26</a>). Solomon failed to perceive this grace, instead focusing solely upon the aspect of God showing compassion to those who are repentant (s:w. <a href='B:240 28:13'>Pro 28:13</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As for man, His days are like grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the language used of the exiles in <a href='B:290 40:6-8'>Isa 40:6-8</a>. The idea is that the exiles were indeed like this, as are all men. But Isaiah explains that the prophetic word of restoration was to come true, even if the men of that generation faded into death. This is taught here in different words, assuring them that God's promised grace would not fail and His throne was indeed eternal and therefore would be reestablished on earth (:17,19).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more- &nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again is David alluding to the feelings of Job (<a href='B:220 7:10'>Job 7:10</a>; <a href='B:220 20:9'>Job 20:9</a>), one of the few books of scripture he had access to. But despite this understanding of the mortality of man, David is confident that God's grace will be manifest eternally to His people (:17). This can only have any sense if he understood there to be a resurrection of the body, to eternal experience of God's grace.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But Yahweh’s grace is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear Him, His righteousness to children’s children-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :16. We note the parallel of grace and righteousness. Paul in Romans 1-8 explores this; the gift of grace is not of cheap grace, a turning of a blind eye to sin. The gift is of righteousness, counting right the sinner, by God the judge of all. This is by grace, but it has to be believed. This gift of imputed righteousness "is of faith that it might be by grace" (<a href='B:520 4:16'>Rom 4:16</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>to those who keep His covenant, to those who remember to obey His precepts-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The keeping of the covenant, in the context of what was explained on :17, effectively means to keep on believing in God's amazing, saving grace towards sinners. "Remember" doesn't here suggest that they are commended for not being forgetful. The Hebrew carries the idea of having the mind full. Our fully conscious desire to obey His ways is going to be an outcome of continuing to believe His covenant, which promises salvation by pure grace (:17) rather than obedience. So the obedience here in view is in response to the covenant of grace, which offers salvation by grace and not works. These works of obedience are therefore done in gratitude for a salvation already received by grace, rather than in order to achieve a worthiness for that salvation.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh has established His throne in the heavens, His kingdom rules over all-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles were looking for the Kingdom to be reestablished, just as David was looking for his throne to be reestablished in Absalom's time, and as he looked to have his own throne at Saul's time. But the comfort was that that throne was already established in Heaven, even if it wasn't visible on earth. And this is our comfort too.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We are to pray for His Kingdom to come, so that His will may be done on earth (<a href='B:470 6:10'>Mat 6:10</a>). The Kingdom and the doing of His will are therefore paralleled. His Kingdom reigns over all in Heaven, for there, all the Angels are obedient to Him (<a href='B:230 103:19-21'>Psa 103:19-21</a>). By praying for the Kingdom to come on earth we are not only praying for the Lord’s second coming, but for the progress of the Gospel world-wide right now. Not only that more men and women will hear it and respond, but that those who have accepted it might work God’s will rather than their own to an ever greater extent. Whether or not we can physically spread the Gospel is in this sense irrelevant; our prayer should be, first and foremost if the pattern of the Lord’s prayer is to be taken exactly, for the triumph of the Gospel world-wide.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh, you angels of His, who are mighty in strength, who fulfil His word, obeying the voice of His word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I suggested on :1 that this Psalm is paired with Psalms 102; and indirectly, that too concludes at this point in the structure of the Psalm with reference to Angels. See on <a href='B:230 102:26'>Psa 102:26</a>. The relevance of mentioning the power of the Angels is caught in the LXX: "mighty in strength, who perform his bidding,&nbsp;ready&nbsp;to hearken to the voice of his words". The word they were ready and eager to fulfil was the word of restoring Zion. They could bring this about; but Israel on earth had to be willing to return, both to their land and their God. And such vast potential was thereby wasted at the time.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh, all you armies of His, you servants of His, who do His will-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Angels are given specific directives by God which they go and execute to the best of their ability and then report back to God- His "Angels::. that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word" (<a href='B:230 103:21'>Psa 103:21</a>). They were eager to do this in the context of performing God's will of saving and restoring Zion. We must note that the Angels as in supernatural beings are never divided into good ones and wicked ones. "All" the Angels are obedient to God's word. They are immortal (<a href='B:490 20:35-36'>Luk 20:35-36</a>) and therefore don't sin (<a href='B:520 6:23'>Rom 6:23</a>). However the Greek and Hebrew word translated "Angel" is also used of human beings, who of course can sin:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Bless Yahweh, my soul. Yahweh, my God, You are very great. You are clothed with honour and majesty-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This translation misses the fact that the Hebrew here is full of verbs and not adjectives; the reference is to a series of actions, rather than a state. Yahweh is seen as having done something which makes Him very great, creating majesty and honour for Himself through an action. It could be that the psalmist has in view the envisaged restoration of God's Kingdom on earth at the time of the restoration; which would explain the references in some verses to a time of present oppression at the hands of the Gentiles. The psalmist looks ahead to this day as if it has happened. This didn't happen then as planned, but has been rescheduled and reapplied to the last day.</p>&nbsp;&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He covers Himself with light as with a garment, He stretches out the heavens like a curtain-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"The heavens" at times refer to the temple or sanctuary, which perhaps is why the idea of a curtain is used, recalling the various curtains of the tabernacle. The reference may be to the hope that God would reestablish the sanctuary, and appear clothed as it were in the light of the shekinah glory over the ark. This idea of God as a figure shrouded in light is used by Ezekiel in describing the visions of cherubic glory. That cherubic system, with the form of a Divine "man" above them, was envisaged as returning to Zion. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He lays the beams of His rooms in the waters, He makes the clouds His chariot, He walks on the wings of the wind-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the allusion to the cherubim (see on :2). The idea may be that the reestablishment and rebuilding of the Kingdom would begin "in the waters" in that the beams, the people, were to be prepared whilst in exile amongst the waters of the Gentiles. "Room" or "chambers" is the word used of the rebuilding of Zion in <a href='B:160 3:31-32'>Neh 3:31-32</a>, and of the envisaged rebuilding of the temple in <a href='B:330 40:49'>Eze 40:49</a>; <a href='B:330 41:7'>Eze 41:7</a>. But the Jews didn't build as required in Ezekiel 40-48; they precluded the help of the Angel cherubim, upon whom God was eager to ride forth for them.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He makes His Angels winds; His servants flames of fire-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on Psalms 102 and Psalms 103, the reference to the Angels is to encourage Judah that the vast Angel cherubim system alluded to in :2,3 was ready and eager to go forth for God's people:&nbsp; The allusion is to the statement of God's greatness at the end of Job, a book of encouragement to the exiles (see on <a href='B:220 1:1'>Job 1:1</a>): "Canst thou send lightnings (Angels) that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are (Septuagint: 'We do Thy pleasure?')" (<a href='B:220 38:35'>Job 38:35</a>). In the Hezekiah context, the reference could be to how the Angel which destroyed the Assyrians did so using fire (see on <a href='B:230 46:9'>Psa 46:9</a>). We note that the Angels are God's servants; there is never any hint in the Bible that the "Angels" [as in supernatural beings] are divided into groups of wicked and righteous. <a href='B:230 83:14'>Psa 83:14</a>; <a href='B:230 97:3'>Psa 97:3</a> speak of God as "flames of fire" burning up Israel's enemies. He was ready and able, through the Angel cherubim, to overcome all opposition to a restored Kingdom of God in Israel. But despite this, most of the exiles preferred to remain in Babylon. Just as many today likewise turn down the opportunity to be part of God's Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I suggested on :1 that this is a reference to the envisaged restoration. God was not going to allow the eretz promised to Abraham to be moved, ultimately; even though its people had temporarily been moved into exile. LXX gives the sense: "Who establishes the earth on her sure foundation". The reference is not to God's creation of the planet, but to His reestablishment of the Kingdom of God in the earth / land of Israel.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You covered it with the deep sea as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:230 104:5-9'>Psa 104:5-9</a> describes “the earth” as being covered with the deep, and “the waters stood above the mountains”- clearly alluding to the flood. Yet these mountains are those which are “a refuge for the wild goats</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> conies” (<a href='B:230 104:18'>Psa 104:18</a> RV). These sound like the mountains of Israel / the Middle East rather than any other part of the world. The idea is that during the exile, the land was as it were covered with the flood; but would reemerge into a wonderful new age. Isaiah likewise speaks of how God would consider the years in exile as "the waters of Noah" (<a href='B:290 54:9'>Isa 54:9</a>), and would never be repeated once the Kingdom was reestablished.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>At Your rebuke they fled, at the voice of Your thunder they hurried away-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same phrase used of the fleeing away of the waters of the Red Sea at the theophany which occurred then; see on <a href='B:230 77:17'>Psa 77:17</a>. The waters are spoken of as living entities because they represented the heathen nations opposing Israel at the time; and this miracle was just as possible for God's people at the time of Hezekiah and later, the exiles.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which You had assigned to them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The reference seems to be to the changed topography after the flood, and this is the imagery used about the restoration in <a href='B:290 40:4'>Isa 40:4</a>. The valleys would be lifted up and the mountains brought down [they very opposite of what is described as happening here after the flood], in order to pave the way for the coming of Messiah and God's glory to Zion. "Assigned" is the word used for the "foundation" of the rebuilt temple (<a href='B:150 3:6'>Ezr 3:6</a>; <a href='B:150 3:10'>Ezr 3:10</a>). This potential wasn't realized at the restoration, and was reapplied to the Lord Jesus:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You have set a boundary that they may not pass over; that they don’t turn again to cover the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as the flood waters (see on :6,7) would never return to destroy the earth, so the Babylonian destruction was potentially the final such judgment upon God's people. But their impenitence and continued sin precluded this from being the case, and so this idea of the waters [representing the nations around Israel] never covering the earth again was rescheduled to the last day. "Boundary" is the usual word used for the border of the promised land. But the rivers and floodwaters of the invading armies were frequently sent by God over this border even after the Babylonian invasion. The truth was that Judah's princes had removed the border in throwing themselves open to the gods and influences of the nations around them (s:w. <a href='B:350 5:10'>Hos 5:10</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sends forth springs into the valleys, they run among the mountains-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The waters of the Gentile nations would be assuaged, but God would send forth His own waters, not to destroy but to create.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They give drink to every animal of the field, the wild donkeys quench their thirst-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Every" may imply 'both clean and unclean', with the unclean wild donkeys being cited as an example. God's care and saving purpose is thereby declared as being for all.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The birds of the sky nest by them, they sing among the branches-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:470 13:32'>Mat 13:32</a> uses this imagery in describing the Kingdom of God. The picture here is of how God's waters would create a restored Kingdom of God on earth. This potential wasn't realized by the exiles; and so these things were reinterpreted and are reapplied to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. And therefore the imagery of this verse is used by Him about His Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He waters the mountains from His rooms, the earth is filled with the fruit of Your works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The allusion may be to the temple on earth reflecting that in heaven. The living water is envisaged as flowing out of the rebuilt temple (<a href='B:450 14:8'>Zec 14:8</a>; <a href='B:360 3:18'>Joe 3:18</a>; <a href='B:330 47:5'>Eze 47:5</a>). Sadly the possibility of this was precluded by the exiles refusing to build and operate the temple in accordance with the specifications of Ezekiel 40-48.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that He may bring forth food out of the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God "makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (<a href='B:470 5:45'>Mat 5:45</a>). God consciously makes the sun rise each day- it isn't part of a kind of perpetual motion machine. Hence the force of His promises in the prophets that in the same way as He consciously maintains the solar system, so He will maintain His Israel. Psalms 104 is full of such examples: "He waters the hills::. causes the grass to grow::. makes darkness (consciously, each night)::. the young lions::. seek their meat from God::. send forth Your Spirit (Angel), they are created" (not just by the reproductive system). There are important implications following from these ideas with regard to our faith in prayer. It seems to me that our belief that the world is going on inevitably by clockwork is one of the things which militates against a sense of God's active presence through His Spirit. See on <a href='B:470 6:26'>Mat 6:26</a>.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This doesn’t mean we are to drink alcohol until we feel “merry”. This phrase and those surrounding it are not talking about the effect of crops on the bodies of people, but rather the effect of a good harvest on the emotions of those gathering them. Wine, oil and bread are all associated with the sanctuary services (s:w. <a href='B:440 2:12'>Hag 2:12</a>).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh’s trees are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon, which He has planted-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The living water of the Messianically restored Zion mentioned on :13 was intended to water trees of life (<a href='B:330 47:12'>Eze 47:12</a>; <a href='B:730 22:2'>Rev 22:2</a>). This didn't happen at the restoration as intended, as the Jews didn't build the temple system of Ezekiel 40-48. But in essence it will come true in Messiah's Kingdom (<a href='B:730 22:2'>Rev 22:2</a>), and does come true in it even now. The promise that the restored exiles could have become the trees of Yahweh's planting (<a href='B:290 60:21'>Isa 60:21</a>; <a href='B:290 61:3'>Isa 61:3</a>) can become true spiritually for all who now accept the message of the Kingdom.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>where the birds make their nests. The stork makes its home in the fir trees-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :12, <a href='B:470 13:32'>Mat 13:32</a> uses this imagery in describing the Kingdom of God. The picture here is of how God's waters would create a restored Kingdom of God on earth. This potential wasn't realized by the exiles; and so these things were reinterpreted and are reapplied to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. And therefore the imagery of this verse is used by Him about His Kingdom. The stork was an unclean animal, but the unclean were to be welcomed into the restored Kingdom, for all such divisions between clean and unclean were to be removed.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The high mountains are for the wild goats, the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"High mountains" may be an intensive plural for the ultimately high mountain, of Zion. The term is used of Zion in <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a>; <a href='B:290 57:7'>Isa 57:7</a>; <a href='B:330 17:22'>Eze 17:22</a>; and of the restored Zion in <a href='B:330 40:2'>Eze 40:2</a>. This mount Zion was to become a refuge for unclean animals; and we can note the emphasis in this chapter upon the beauty and acceptance of the unclean animals:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He appointed the moon for seasons, the sun knows when to set-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The moon being for seasons recalls the language of the Genesis creation. And the seasons were specifically the feasts. These were intended to feature in the reestablished Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Darkness was always feared in contemporary societies, and the animals which prowled at night were seen as in league with demons. But this common understanding is being deconstructed. God is the maker of darkness, the animals of the night are beckoned forth by Him; for the Old Testament deconstructs any idea of a cosmic 'Satan' being and associated demons.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Even the instinct of the lion to hunt is given by God; they seek their food from Him. This is significant in the context of the exiles because the likes of Assyria and Babylon are likened to lions and wild, mysterious beasts (:20). But they too were ultimately under God's control, and had sought their prey from God's people under His direct instigation. There was and is no radical evil in the conception of God's true people. See on 27.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sun rises, and they steal away and lay down in their dens-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :21, the mysterious wild animals of the night, including the lions, were all under God's control, and would go their way from God's people when He causes the sunrise. This clearly looks ahead to the coming of Messiah as the dawn (<a href='B:460 4:2'>Mal 4:2</a>), heralding the end of all Judah's abusers.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Man goes forth to his work, to his labour until the evening-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :24. The allusion may be to the curse of <a href='B:10 3:19'>Gen 3:19</a>, that man was to work until he can do so no more, and then returns to dust (:29). This contrasts with the eternity of God (:24) and His people.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh, how many are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all. The earth is full of Your riches-</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "The earth is full of Thy creation". The contrast is with the weary labour of man upon earth (:23), which he eagerly brings to an end every evening; and the ceaseless, creative labour of Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sea was seen by contemporary peoples as mysterious and out of human control, inhabited by monsters which equate to the cosmic 'Satan' being wrongly believed in by many today. But all within the seas are God's servants, waiting upon Him (:27) and looking to Him for food. The seas are used in the prophets to represent the Gentile nations who had abused Israel. These too were not forms of radical, uncontrolled evil; they were all totally under God's control.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There the ships go, and leviathan, whom You formed to play there-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Ships" here may refer to whales or other great sea beasts. See on :25. Leviathan appears to be the Canaanite version of the orthodox ‘Satan’ figure, perhaps a reference to the ‘Lotan’ of the Ugaritic myths. In great detail in Job 41, this creature and belief is deconstructed. It is shown to be a created being (:30) – created by the one almighty God of the Old Testament, to be completely under His control to the point that He can even tease them, playing with them as in Job 41, so enormously greater is His power than theirs. These Canaanite ‘Satan’ figures are thereby shown to have no significant existence; and they certainly don’t exist as opposed to God. They are totally under His control. And yet these monster figures clearly have characteristics shared by known animals, such as the hippopotamus, crocodile etc. Those similarities are intended. It’s been well observed: “To say that Leviathan has characteristics of the crocodile and the whale is not to say that it is such a creature, but rather to suggest that evil is rooted in the natural world” (Robert S. Fyall, Now My Eyes Have Seen You: Images of Creation and Evil in the Book of Job (Leicester: I:V:P. / Apollos, 2002) p. 27) – and the point is so laboured in Job that the natural world is of God’s complete creation. ‘Evil’ in a form independent of Him, in radical opposition to Him, simply isn’t there.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It’s significant that dragons in the form of serpents were common in Babylonian theology. Figures on vases show serpent griffins, there was one on Marduk’s temple in Nippur, and also on the Ishtar Gate in Babylon. These would have been familiar to Judah in Babylonian captivity. They may well have seen a similarity between the Babylonian monsters and the Leviathan beast. That God is greater than Leviathan and can do what He wills with him would therefore have had a special meaning to the faithful Jew in exile. In a restoration context, Isaiah comforted Judah that God would destroy “Leviathan the gliding serpent; He will slay the monster of the sea” (<a href='B:290 27:1'>Isa 27:1</a>). The real ‘monster’ faced by Judah in exile wasn’t a supernatural being; it was a concrete kingdom of men on earth, namely Babylon. God taught Job, and through him showcased to the watching world, that all such imaginations of Leviathan, monsters in the raging sea, crooked serpents etc. were vain – in any case, God had created them and used them to do His will with His people, symbolized as they were by Job. His sitting in dust and ashes is very much the picture of Judah sitting by the rivers of Babylon, bemoaning their losses:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :25,26, the creatures of the sea are actually God's servants, for that is the meaning of the idiom of 'waiting for'. And He feeds them; they do not randomly choose their prey purely in their own strength and of their own volition. See on :21.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You give to them; they gather. You open Your hand; they are satisfied with good-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :27, the apparently mysterious and radically evil beasts of the sea are all under God's controlled. Whatever they eat, is given to them by God's open hand. The beasts which had consumed Judah were actually given their food by God; for the prophets continually stress that these invasions came from God's direction:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You hide Your face: they are troubled; You take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The hiding of God's face always speaks of His moral displeasure. This statement is specifically in the context of the death of the mighty sea beasts, although as we have seen, they represent the nations dominating Israel. Their time for judgment would come, even if it were simply in the form of their death. We could not wish for any clearer statement that death of any living creature is an undoing of creation, whereby the breath or spirit is given by God, and then when it is withdrawn, they return to dust. This language is elsewhere used specifically of human beings. For in the matter of death, man truly has no preeminence above a beast (<a href='B:250 3:19'>Ecc 3:19</a>).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You send forth Your Spirit: they are created, You renew the face of the ground-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :26, the great sea beasts are shown to be&nbsp; created beings- created by the one almighty God of the Old Testament, to be completely under His control to the point that He can even tease them, playing with them as in Job 41, so enormously greater is His power than theirs. And likewise the nations they represented were created by God. The dust into which they returned was the "ground" from which God could use His Spirit to form a new creation, when all these beasts have passed away for good.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the glory of Yahweh endure forever, let Yahweh rejoice in His works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This forms an inclusio to the opening allusions to the cherubim and the shekinah glory in :2-4. The psalmist wishes for the day to come when again the glory would return to Zion visibly, and "endure forever", never to be taken away again. And this would involve Yahweh eternally rejoicing in the works of the new creation intimated in :30.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the inclusio to the opening allusions to the cherubim and the shekinah glory in :2-4, this time further alluding to the theophany on Sinai when Israel were first declared Yahweh's Kingdom. The psalmist was looking for the dramatic reestablishment of the Kingdom, accompanied by a similar theophany.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God while I have any being-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We note again David's belief in the mortality of man, with no conscious existence after death [until the resurrection of the body]. For his time of "being" was "as long as I live".</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let your meditation be sweet to Him. I will rejoice in Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His rejoicing in what was going to do was to be a reflection of God's rejoicing in His new creation (:31).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on His name! Make His doings known among the peoples-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an appeal to the Gentile "peoples" to hear about God's work and praise Him; and to praise a deity in those days meant to accept that deity. Not because they were forced to by military conquest, but because they had considered God's work which had now been told to them. <a href='B:130 16:8-22'>1Ch 16:8-22</a> is the Psalm written by David when the ark was brought to Zion, but it reappears within <a href='B:230 105:1-15'>Psa 105:1-15</a>, which is clearly an appeal for the exiles to repent so that God's salvation history might continue with them. So we see how David's original Psalms were reworked and reapplied in later contexts, under Divine inspiration. By the time of the exiles in Babylon, it seems the ark had been lost. But such external religious symbolism was unimportant; the essence was that the people of God were to come to Zion, just as the ark had done.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David knew his sinfulness, he knew his reliance upon the grace of God, more and more as he got older. One would have thought that after the Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David's desire to teach others of God's ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two faced allegiance to Achish (<a href='B:90 27:8-12'>1Sa 27:8-12</a>). There is real stress upon this evangelistic fervour of David (<a href='B:230 4:3'>Psa 4:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 22:31'>Psa 22:31</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:9-10'>Psa 40:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 57:9'>Psa 57:9</a>; <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a>; <a href='B:230 66:5'>Psa 66:5</a>; <a href='B:230 66:16'>Psa 66:16</a>; <a href='B:230 95:1'>Psa 95:1</a>; <a href='B:230 95:8'>Psa 95:8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:5-8'>Psa 96:5-8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:10'>Psa 96:10</a>; <a href='B:230 100:1-4'>Psa 100:1-4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:1-2'>Psa 105:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>; <a href='B:230 145:5-6'>Psa 145:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 145:12'>Psa 145:12</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:230 71:18'>Psa 71:18</a> records the "old and greyheaded" David pleading with God not to die until he had taught "thy strength unto this generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others. David&nbsp;therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the pureness of God's grace. He didn't do this as some kind of self-help psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and God's mercy, and the wonderful willingness&nbsp;of God to extend this to men.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sing to Him, sing praises to Him! Tell of all His marvellous works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was very much involved in Israel his people. He saw himself as their representative. When he sung Psalms, he invited them to come and sing along with him (<a href='B:230 105:2'>Psa 105:2</a>; <a href='B:230 107:22'>Psa 107:22</a>; <a href='B:230 111:1'>Psa 111:1</a>). And yet this can also be read as an appeal to the Gentile peoples of :1 to hear of Yahweh's works, believe them, accept Him as their God, and then in turn tell others of "His marvellous works". See on :45.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Glory in His holy name, let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Bible continually stresses the critical importance of the heart, the mind. Our minds should glory in God's Name which is His characteristics, as articulated in His "works" (:2) in history. And this leads us to "seek" Him and His face, which I suggest on :4 refers to repentance.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Seek Yahweh and His strength, seek His face forever more-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>To seek Yahweh's face is an idiom for repentance (<a href='B:350 5:15'>Hos 5:15</a>), and is specifically used by Daniel in the context of the exiles (<a href='B:140 7:14'>2Ch 7:14</a>; <a href='B:340 9:3'>Dan 9:3</a>). This is therefore an appeal for the exiles to repent, so that God may continue to lavish His saving grace upon them, as He had upon their forefathers.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Remember His marvellous works that He has done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Hebrew idea of 'remembering' is not necessarily related to 'remembering' as opposed to 'forgetting'; rather does it have the flavour of celebrating, and thus being aware of in gratitude and praise.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>you seed of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was clearly the "chosen one::. My servant" (<a href='B:230 89:3'>Psa 89:3</a>), but these very terms are applied to Israel as a whole (<a href='B:230 105:6'>Psa 105:6</a>; <a href='B:230 105:43'>Psa 105:43</a>; <a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>) and to the "servant" of later Isaiah, who refers to both Israel and their Messiah as their embodiment (<a href='B:290 42:1'>Isa 42:1</a>; <a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>). David's path of sin, repentance and restoration was intended to be that of all God's people, as he himself recognizes in Psalms 32. But the exiles refused to repent and therefore their restoration was precluded. They were not therefore treated as His "chosen one".</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He is Yahweh, our God; His judgments are in all the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles were to believe the prophetic word, that all the nations in the eretz promised to Abraham were to experience God's judgments; the judgments of "our God", Yahweh, the God of Israel.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Jeremiah, Zechariah, Hosea and Ezekiel point out to Judah that they had broken the old covenant; their only basis of connection with God was therefore on the basis of the new covenant He was offering, which was based upon the promises to Abraham. That word of promise was unconditional, to all who wanted to believe it. It was therefore eternal, "to a thousand generations". It would therefore be abrogated, unlike the old covenant based on the law of Moses.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>the covenant which He made with Abraham, His oath to Isaac-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "oath to Isaac" must refer to the repetition of the promises to Abraham to Isaac in <a href='B:10 26:3'>Gen 26:3</a>, where the same word for "oath" is used. But the context of that repetition of the covenant oath to Isaac was in commanding him not to seek material prosperity in Egypt, but rather to remain in the famished land of Israel, then experiencing famine. This was relevant to the exiles, many of whom preferred to remain in Babylon, seeing that Malachi, Ezra and others record serious famine in the land of Judah at that time:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>and confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute; to Israel for an everlasting covenant-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "statute" doesn't refer to the law of Moses, but to the covenant with Abraham of :9. The covenant with Abraham was an unconditional offer of eternal inheritance of the land; all that was and is required is that this great salvation be believed. But it became and becomes a "statute" or "law" in the same way as grace reigns or is a ruler over us (<a href='B:520 5:21'>Rom 5:21</a>). If we believe in God's unconditional covenant of salvation, then this becomes a law of our lives, the guiding principle in all our thinking, worldviews and perceptions. It is in this sense that "the grace of God::. teaches us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and Godly lives" (<a href='B:630 2:11-12'>Tit 2:11-12</a>). Grace is grace, but the wonder of it, when believed, is such that it naturally elicits changed behaviour, and in this sense is a "statute" or law.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As discussed on :10, the promise of eternal inheritance of Canaan was unconditional, by grace. It just had to be believed.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>when they were but a few men in number, yes, very few, and foreigners in it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God rejoices to work with the small and feeble. The "few men" must refer to how Jacob's family only numbered about 70 people when they went into Egypt. The same phrase "few men in number" is exactly that used by Jacob in lamenting how very small his tribe was compared to the aggressive tribes amongst whom they lived in Canaan (<a href='B:10 34:30'>Gen 34:30</a>). And it is the phrase used of how when Israel were to be judged for their sins in exile, they would be left "few men in number" (<a href='B:50 4:27'>Deu 4:27</a>). The exiles are being encouraged to see the similarities between them and Jacob's family in Egypt, the original 'Israel' at its first beginnings.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to refer, in the context, to the journeyings of the patriarchs amongst the peoples of Canaan, Philistia and Egypt. Although they suffered at the hands of those peoples, they were miraculously preserved; and so would God's people be despite their current exile in Babylon / Persia.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He allowed no one to do them wrong. Yes, He reproved kings for their sakes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In this we see God's absolute grace. For both Abraham and Isaac were rightly reproved by the Abimelech kings for lying about their wives, and yet God reproved those kings. He was openly showing His passionate love and preference for His people; they were rightly reproved by the kings (<a href='B:10 20:16'>Gen 20:16</a>), but those kings were reproved by God for their sins of ignorance. And it was this same grace which was available to the exiles. "Wrong" was indeed done to the exiles (s:w. <a href='B:300 50:33'>Jer 50:33</a>; <a href='B:350 5:11'>Hos 5:11</a>), as it was done to the historical Jacob; but the point is being made that it was not ultimately allowed because there was the final restoration of Jacob's fortunes, as there would be ultimately for God's people- but in God's own way and time:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This refers to how Abraham and Isaac were not harmed despite lying to Abimelech (see on :14). It definitely doesn't mean that God's visible public servants are beyond criticism; for Abraham and Isaac most definitely are reproved for their actions in the Biblical record. The point is that they, weak as they were and deserving of "harm", were preserved from ultimate harm by God's grace. And they are cited as an example to the exiles, who were all "anointed ones" (<a href='B:310 4:21'>Lam 4:21</a>), they had a special purpose before God; just as all in Christ, the anointed one, are likewise "anointed ones"&nbsp; (<a href='B:540 1:21'>2Co 1:21</a>). So this doesn't give pastors or church leaders special privilege of being beyond criticism, as this verse is misused to teach.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He called for a famine on the land, He destroyed the piles of food-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This verse must be understood in its context within this chronological account of God's grace towards His people at the time of the patriarchs. The Joseph story begins in the next verse, and so we are to understand that God gave a prophetic word about the famine before Joseph was sold into Egypt (:17). This theme is continued in :19; God made a prophetic word about Joseph, but it took time to come to fulfilment. And during that time, he suffered. But although God foresaw the time of famine, He had made plans right from the start of it to also save His people from it- even it involved factoring in their sinfulness within those plans. This was exactly the situation with the exiles; God's word had sent them into captivity, but that word had also arranged a salvation from it, even though they were suffering whilst that was brought about.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sent a man before them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> Joseph, who was sold for a slave-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :16. In the context of the Psalm, God is comforting Israel that all their sufferings had been experienced by Joseph. The exiles are often spoken of as being in prison in a Gentile world (<a href='B:230 79:11'>Psa 79:11</a>; <a href='B:230 102:20'>Psa 102:20</a>; <a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>; <a href='B:290 42:22'>Isa 42:22</a>; <a href='B:290 49:9'>Isa 49:9</a>); just as Joseph was. Prison and death are often associated because a spell in prison was effectively a death sentence, so bad were the conditions. Israel being in prison is therefore a symbol of a living death. The Lord Jesus as the suffering servant experienced all the sufferings of the exiled people of God, as their representative. On the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ was the great, supreme prisoner (<a href='B:230 69:33'>Psa 69:33</a> - this is an intensive plural, referring to a singular great prisoner). Like Joseph, He went through all the emotions of the prisoner; the shame, depression, introspection. As Israel were comforted in their living death by the fact that there was an individual in the past who had gone through all they were going through as a group; so the new Israel ought to take comfort together in contemplating the experiences of the Lord Jesus. He bore our communal sorrows, griefs and sins. In this sense He was "sent before" both the exiles and ourselves.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They bruised his feet with shackles; his soul was locked in iron-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This highlights the mental aspects of Joseph's suffering. The verse is badly translated in the AV: "Whose feet (the same word is translated ability, endurance, journey) they hurt (Heb. 'to browbeat or depress') with fetters: (i:e:) his soul (AVmg:) came into iron". His very soul was in iron, trapped, oppressively boxed in as he lay in the darkness. As the Lord Jesus Christ hung in the darkness He too was depressed by the weight of His mental burden, a burden so great it must have pushed His brain to maximum neurological capacity. The spirit of the crucified Christ is also in <a href='B:230 142:7'>Psa 142:7</a>: "Bring my soul out of prison::. the righteous shall compass me about" (cp. <a href='B:230 22:22'>Psa 22:22</a>). The Lord Jesus poured out His soul unto death; "He was taken away by distress" (<a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>; <a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a> AVmg:) suggests that it was the mental crisis in the Lord's heart on the cross which resulted in His death. This is why Pilate marvelled that He died so quickly. It is evident from this that the physical process of crucifixion did not kill the Lord, but rather the heart burst (both figurative and literal) which it brought upon Him. Do we not sense that striving in our minds as we fellowship His sufferings? Here is the challenge of the Joseph record and seeing Joseph as a type of Christ; to just begin to capture the mental anguish of the Son of God as He hung there.</p>&nbsp;


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>until the time that His word came true, and Yahweh’s word proved Him true-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as the prophetic word for Joseph came true when it appeared at times to have no chance of fulfilment, so the word of restoration would come true for the exiles. See on :16. God has arranged our lives according to a pattern; we have specific times in our lives for various situations. Looking back at the Biblical record of Joseph and Moses, whose life was divided clearly into three periods of 40 years, we see this clearly; but it’s of course harder to discern in our own lives as we are still living through it. But God is in control and has a plan for us, desiring only our eternal good in our latter end. Joseph was in this situation until the determined time came for God to suddenly deliver him thanks to the unexpected word from a king; and so Judah, depressed in Babylon, were being comforted that when the predicted 70 years captivity were ended, they too would be likewise delivered- which came true in the decree of king Cyrus for them to return to their land with his every blessing.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The king sent and freed him; even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The deliverance of Joseph by the edict of a powerful king looked forward to the deliverance of the captives by the decree of Cyrus. Pharaoh's behaviour is recorded in terms appropriate to Cyrus, e:g. describing him as "ruler of peoples". "Freed" is AV "loosed" (s:w. <a href='B:230 146:7'>Psa 146:7</a>). The exiles were prisoners who could have been loosed from Babylon- had they wished. The book of Esther makes clear that the Jews were far from impoverished prisoners. The imagery of being in prison and slavery is therefore in spiritual terms; and most of the exiles refused that great deliverance because they didn't perceive their condition. And that's exactly why folks today turn down the great offer of freedom made to them in Christ.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his possessions-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :22, this could imply that such a situation was potentially possible at the time of the restoration under Cyrus. The allusion to Joseph continues; he was in a prison "house" under a "lord" (<a href='B:10 39:2'>Gen 39:2</a>; <a href='B:10 40:7'>Gen 40:7</a>), but there was a sudden, radical inversion of everything. He was exalted from that position to be lord of Pharaoh's "house" (<a href='B:10 45:8'>Gen 45:8</a>). This sudden inversion could potentially have happened with the decree of Cyrus.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>to discipline his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Discipline" is AV "bind" and maybe continues the theme of :21, of sudden inversion. Instead of being bound by princes, Joseph bound princes. This isn't recorded of Pharaoh and Joseph; but I have suggested in commentary on the Joseph story that there are hints that the worship of Yahweh and the acceptance of His principles was established by Joseph at a high level in Egypt. Perhaps the idea is that potentially, Cyrus could have allowed a Joseph figure at the time of the restoration to teach the entire Persian leadership of Yahweh's wisdom. And thus the Kingdom of God would have spread throughout the entire eretz promised to Abraham. But these things were precluded by Judah's impenitence, no such Joseph figure arising, and Cyrus also failing to live up to his potential. All these things come to their reapplied fulfilment in the Lord Jesus and the things of His Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Israel also came into Egypt, Jacob lived in the land of Ham-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The force of "also" is that as the exiles had gone into Babylon, so also had Israel gone into Egypt, and been blessed there and delivered from it.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The hope was that a small minority nation like Judah could have become stronger than "Babylon" and arisen from their exile in supernatural strength given by God. But the majority of them preferred to remain there, and initially, as Ezekiel laments, they worshipped the gods of Babylon. This is also hinted at in the book of Esther.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He turned their heart to hate His people, to conspire against His servants-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is further evidence that God can work directly upon the hearts of people, including those like the Egyptians who are not His people. The heart of Saul was likewise turned (s:w. <a href='B:90 10:9'>1Sa 10:9</a>). This is effected today by the work of the Holy Spirit directly upon human spirits / hearts.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The phrase "chosen::. servant" is used of David (<a href='B:230 78:70'>Psa 78:70</a>). But it is particularly used of the people of God whilst exiled (<a href='B:290 41:8-9'>Isa 41:8-9</a>; <a href='B:290 43:10'>Isa 43:10</a>; <a href='B:290 44:1'>Isa 44:1</a> etc:), and of Zerubbabel, the potential Messiah at the time of the restoration (<a href='B:440 2:23'>Hag 2:23</a>). Zerubbabel could have been David redivivus, a Messiah figure who was the Davidic ruler, representative of God's people, who were also the chosen servant. Just as Moses and Aaron had delivered the people from Egypt, so this individual could have delivered the exiles from Babylon and led them to a restored Kingdom of God in the land. But he failed, as did the people; and so these things were reapplied to the ultimate "chosen servant", the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:470 12:18'>Mat 12:18</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They performed miracles among them, and wonders in the land of Ham-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Mizraim or Egypt was the descendant of Ham (<a href='B:10 10:6'>Gen 10:6</a>; <a href='B:230 105:23'>Psa 105:23</a>; <a href='B:230 105:27'>Psa 105:27</a>; <a href='B:230 106:22'>Psa 106:22</a>). There may be an allusion to Khem, one of the main Egyptian gods. For the purpose of all the plagues was to demonstrate that Yahweh was the only God, and the Egyptian gods had no real existence. The "signs" performed by Moses and Aaron (:26) could have been matched by the "signs" performed by the two "men of sign" at the restoration (<a href='B:450 3:8'>Zec 3:8</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sent darkness, and made it dark. They didn’t rebel against His words-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is possible to see in the ten plagues brought about by God's word to Moses an echo of the ten times it is recorded that "God said" in Genesis 1. <a href='B:230 105:28-36'>Psa 105:28-36</a> describes the plagues on Egypt as a reversal of creation - starting with darkness (cp. "let there be light") and ending with the slaying of the firstborn to match the creation of man last of all. The words which were not rebelled against would then refer to the words of creation. But the point may simply be that Moses and Aaron (:26) weren't rebellious but performed the miracles and thereby delivered the people from Egypt; whereas as noted on :26, Zerubbabel and other potential Messiahs failed in thIsa.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The miracles upon the waters were in a sense repeated upon Babylon when the waters were dried up from around the city so that the Medes could take the city. This admittedly was not by miraculous means; but perhaps the idea is that potentially, there could have been similar miraculous acts to cause Babylon to fall and enable the exodus of the exiles.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Potentially, there could have been similar miraculous acts to cause Babylon to fall and enable the exodus of the exiles. The descriptions of the fall of Babylon never came about as was potentially possible. Babylon decayed rather than being struck with the supernatural plagues envisioned in the "fall of Babylon" prophecies; they will come true in the last days, however, for they are alluded to in Revelation 18.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He spoke, and swarms of beetles came, and lice in all their borders-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :28, the plagues came about by the word of Yahweh, alluding to His creative words which brought about creation in the first place. The same prophetic word had been spoken about the restoration and recreation of God's Kingdom in the land.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He gave them hail for rain, with lightning in their land-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hail and lightning (AV "flaming fire") are the words used for the destruction of Assyria / Babylon (<a href='B:290 30:30'>Isa 30:30</a>). They are also associated with theophany (<a href='B:230 18:12-13'>Psa 18:12-13</a>). Hail and lightning could have been used to destroy Babylon and thereby fulfil God's prophetic word of restoration for the exiles (<a href='B:230 148:8'>Psa 148:8</a>). But these great potentials were not realized because the Jews didn't repent and didn't for the most part actually want the restoration of the Kingdom. They preferred the good life in Persia.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He struck their vines and also their fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Not recorded in the Exodus record. The language of vines and figs is more relevant to Babylon (<a href='B:290 36:17'>Isa 36:17</a>) rather than Egypt; but the plagues upon Egypt are being described as being potentially possible upon Babylon, if Judah repented and really wanted restoration. We therefore read of Babylon's latter day plagues (<a href='B:300 50:13'>Jer 50:13</a>; <a href='B:730 18:4'>Rev 18:4</a>; <a href='B:730 18:8'>Rev 18:8</a>). These things have been reapplied to Babylon of the last days seeing they didn't happen as potentially possible at the restoration.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He spoke, and the locusts came, and the grasshoppers without number-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :28,31, the plagues came about by the word of Yahweh, alluding to His creative words which brought about creation in the first place. The same prophetic word had been spoken about the restoration and recreation of God's Kingdom in the land. The language of creation is used about the destruction of Babylon; because the idea was that the fall of Babylon would presage the new creation of God's people and land. But this was conditional upon their repentance. Because they didn't repent and preferred Babylon, Babylon didn't therefore fall at the time in the dramatic way which the prophecies show was potentially possible.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>ate up every plant in their land and devoured the fruit of their ground-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The prophets envisage the fall of Babylon meaning that her land would be damaged by supernatural visitation. But Babylon fell slowly, the prophetic picture didn't come about at the time of the restoration, but is reinterpreted to the latter day Babylon; see on :34.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He struck also all the firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their manhood-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The death of the firstborn was because either the individuals or their parents refused to be obedient to God's offer of salvation. It was therefore a result of human sin; and part of "sin" is that it hurts others. "The chief of all their strength" (AV) is another way of saying 'the firstborn' (s:w. <a href='B:10 49:3'>Gen 49:3</a>). The idea is that human strength was to be taken away, because Egypt was not trusting in God's strength. But God did the same to His own "strength", His people (<a href='B:230 78:61'>Psa 78:61</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He brought them forth with silver and gold, there was not one feeble person among His tribes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Amazingly, there was nobody sick amongst the three million or so who left Egypt that night. At our exodus from this world through our Red Sea baptism into Christ, we are made spiritually strong- and must abide in that strength. "There was not one feeble person among His tribes" (<a href='B:230 105:37'>Psa 105:37</a>), but prior to this the Israelites had indeed been "feeble" before their Egyptian captors (s:w. <a href='B:230 107:12'>Psa 107:12</a>). This means that the feeble were made strong; and this was exactly the promise to the exiles, that they who were "feeble" in Babylonian exile would be strengthened so that they could&nbsp; leave Babylon and be restored to the land (s:w. <a href='B:290 35:3'>Isa 35:3</a>). The word for "feeble" is often translated "cast down" and is used of how Judah had been at the time of their exile into Babylon (<a href='B:300 6:21'>Jer 6:21</a>; <a href='B:300 8:12'>Jer 8:12</a>; <a href='B:300 18:15'>Jer 18:15</a>; <a href='B:310 1:14'>Lam 1:14</a>; <a href='B:350 5:5'>Hos 5:5</a> and often). But they would be led out of Babylon in a straight way and without stumbling / being feeble (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>); the "feeble" would be strengthened (<a href='B:450 12:8'>Zec 12:8</a> s:w:). Yet when they returned to the land, they were "feeble" (s:w. <a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a> "decayed"; <a href='B:460 2:8'>Mal 2:8</a> "stumbled"). The potential strengthening wasn't used by them:&nbsp; </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen on them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Glad" is a word nearly always used of rejoicing "before the Lord", of a spiritual nature; it has been used in :3 of God's people rejoicing in His Name. The word is used of rejoicing along with God's people in <a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>. The fear which fell upon Egypt may simply be a reference to that of <a href='B:20 15:16'>Exo 15:16</a>. But fear falling upon people is the phrase used of what happened in Persia when the Jews were exalted (<a href='B:190 8:17'>Est 8:17</a>; <a href='B:190 9:2-3'>Est 9:2-3</a>), with the result that many became Jews. So the idea may be that many in Egypt accepted the God of Israel after the Hebrews departed; and this was the envisaged outcome in Babylon too. But the potential was marred by the fact that Judah didn't give glory to God, remained for the most part in Persia / Babylon, and therefore the intended repentance of Babylon didn't happen.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sensitivity of God is revealed here. The cloud kept the heat of the sun off them in the day time, and the fire kept them warm at night when the temperatures plunged in the desert. This same care was potentially available to the exiles (<a href='B:230 121:6'>Psa 121:6</a>); but most didn't even want to make the journey, and remained in Babylon. These promises are therefore reapplied to the new Israel (<a href='B:730 7:16'>Rev 7:16</a>), As Yahweh provided a pillar of fire to give light in the night to His people in the wilderness, so Israel were to arrange for a fire to be burning throughout the night in the tabernacle. They were to give light in response to God’s giving light to them:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They asked, and He brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of the sky-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We note here how God works. They weren't given the quails until they asked for meat. There is no mention here of how the fattest of them were struck down at this time (<a href='B:230 78:31'>Psa 78:31</a>). The point is made that God made concessions to their weakness and went along with their requests because by all means He wanted His rescue operation to succeed; and so it could have been with the restoration of the exiles from Babylon. But most didn't even want to start the wonderful journey.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He opened the rock-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As the rock was "opened", so Babylon, the apparently invincible prison house, would be opened for the exiles (s:w. <a href='B:290 14:17'>Isa 14:17</a>; <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>); the graves would be opened and the dry bones of the exiles would come forth to restore the Kingdom (s:w. <a href='B:330 37:13'>Eze 37:13</a>):&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And waters gushed out; they ran as a river in the dry places-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The language of <a href='B:290 41:18'>Isa 41:18</a>; <a href='B:290 45:8'>Isa 45:8</a> about what God would do for the returning exiles. In the restored Zion, a fountain would be "opened" (s:w. <a href='B:450 13:1'>Zec 13:1</a>). But all this was precluded&nbsp; by the exiles refusing to rebuild Zion according to the specifications in Ezekiel 40-48.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He remembered His holy word, and Abraham His servant-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The deliverance from Egypt was in fulfilment of the prophetic word to Abraham. And the prophetic word was likewise given to the exiles, that they too would be delivered and restored. The phrase "His holy word" is specifically used of the prophetic word to the exiles in <a href='B:300 23:9'>Jer 23:9</a>:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen with singing-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :6. The allusion is to the songs of Moses and Miriam after the Red Sea deliverance. The song of Moses could have been sung again at the deliverance of the exiles. But it wasn't; and so the prophecy and the promise is recalculated and reapplied to the deliverance of the last days (<a href='B:730 15:3'>Rev 15:3</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labour of the peoples in possession-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The scale of the potential for the exiles was huge. The tiny Jewish minority, one of many minorities within the Babylonian / Persian empires, could have not only had their own capital city restored, but also have received all the lands within the eretz promised to Abraham. Likewise the potentials offered in the Gospel of the Kingdom are enormous; but most prefer to be satisfied with the things of this life, as the exiles were with life in Babylon.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good, for His grace endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The previous Psalms 105 has asked God to restore the exiles, to come through for them, because this is what He has done for His people in the past. But there has been no acceptance of grace, of their sinfulness, or of the consequence for sin. This Psalm presents a different picture of Israel's history; it is of their sinfulness, and God's radical grace. And the Psalm asks God to continue that grace. There is still not the total confession of sin which we see in Daniel's prayer (Daniel 9) nor in Ezra's (Ezra 9). But there is an acceptance of their sinfulness and God's grace, and the final appeal for an "Amen" is asking the audience to accept this and to ask for it to continue. "His grace endures forever" is a way of effectively asking for that grace towards sinners to continue to the exiles.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Who can utter the mighty acts of Yahweh, or fully declare all His praise?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The psalmist utters forth the mighty acts of God in this Psalm with the preface enquiring as to who can adequately do thIsa. And then proceeds to do just that. He did so with a clear recognition of his own inadequacy. The Psalms of praise are full of this theme. The mighty acts which will be listed are those of radical forgiveness.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed are those who keep justice. Blessed is the one who does what is right-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David so often parallels righteousness and justice / truth (<a href='B:230 9:8'>Psa 9:8</a>; <a href='B:230 33:5'>Psa 33:5</a>; <a href='B:230 37:6'>Psa 37:6</a>; <a href='B:230 72:2'>Psa 72:2</a>; <a href='B:230 94:15'>Psa 94:15</a>; <a href='B:230 99:7'>Psa 99:7</a>; <a href='B:230 103:6'>Psa 103:6</a>; <a href='B:230 106:3'>Psa 106:3</a>). Indeed, this parallel is so common in God's word. What it means is that the righteousness of God is a just righteousness. It's not fake, 'I'll turn a blind eye'. It is true, real, valid, and has integrity underpinned in the very essential justice of God Himself. Justice and righteousness may appear abstract ideas, mere theology. But the result is that the person who believes God's righteousness is imputed to him or her::. will feel this, they will know it to be true, they can by grace, in faith, quietly hold their head up before God. And David after Bathsheba is our example. He believed and felt this imputed righteousness. It's not so much a case of 'forgiving ourselves' after God has forgiven us, but rather of being swamped by this very real and legitimate sense that truly, we have been counted righteous. And Paul in Romans holds up David after Bathsheba as the personal example to " every one who is Godly" in their time of spiritual need. See on <a href='B:230 41:12'>Psa 41:12</a>.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>At all times-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Consistency is most important in spiritual life rather than occasional flashes of devotion and obedience.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Remember me, Yahweh, with the grace that You show to Your people; visit me with Your salvation-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The psalmist, originally David but rewritten by someone else at the time of the exile (perhaps Jeremiah, Ezra or Daniel), confesses that he too on a personal level needs the grace which he is going to celebrate. And he looks personally for salvation from a Divine 'visitation'. Perhaps he perceived that salvation from Babylon in the restored Kingdom could have been eternal; potentially. But the preconditions weren't met. But that may well have been his legitimate hope.</p>&nbsp;


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was clearly the "chosen one::. My servant" (<a href='B:230 89:3'>Psa 89:3</a>), but these very terms are applied to Israel as a whole (<a href='B:230 105:6'>Psa 105:6</a>; <a href='B:230 105:43'>Psa 105:43</a>; <a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>) and to the "servant" of later Isaiah, who refers to both Israel and their Messiah as their embodiment (<a href='B:290 42:1'>Isa 42:1</a>; <a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>). David's path of sin, repentance and restoration was intended to be that of all God's people, as he himself recognizes in Psalms 32. But the exiles refused to repent and therefore their restoration was precluded. They were not therefore treated as His "chosen one". The Psalmist’s desire for salvation wasn’t merely because he or she wanted to live eternally. There was a desire to see all God’s people glorying in salvation. Salvation is made possible in that God’s people as a whole have been redeemed; there is such a thing as spiritual selfishness, desiring the Kingdom merely for what it means to us. But if we have the perspective of God’s glory, we will desire the coming of salvation because all of us will be glorified. Hence Paul could say that the joy he would have in the Kingdom would be related to his joy that his brethren were also there (<a href='B:590 2:19'>1Th 2:19</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Why do I want to be in the Kingdom? What makes this the dominant desire which we will surely receive? David asked to be given “thy salvation</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation” (AV). Paul likewise says that to see the Thessalonians in the Kingdom would be his glory and joy in that day. Both those men had a perspective far bigger than merely themselves. If our sole desire to ‘be there’ is so that I will live for ever, I will have a nice level of existence</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> this, it seems to me, is not only essentially selfish, but our basic dysfunction and tendency to devaluing of ourselves just will not allow us to have the receipt of personal eternity as our dominant desire. We’ll be interested in it, but it won’t consistently be the thing we desire above all else. But if we see the wider picture, then we will pray for the Kingdom to come so that the things of God’s Name may be glorified; because we want to see our dear brethren there in the Kingdom; because we will want to share our Lord’s joy and their joy. These things are more than the primitive desire for self-preservation which we all have, and which we can articulate in terms of wanting to personally be in the Kingdom. Thus if our motives are right for wanting to be in the Kingdom, then this will become our dominant desire; and we will be granted the desires of our heart. Really we will be. God’s word promises thIsa.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David saw his sufferings as being bound up with those of Israel; those who hated him hated Zion, those who blessed him blessed Zion, and God's salvation of Israel was being expressed through God's deliverance of him in the daily vicissitudes of life; as God had chosen Zion, so He had David His servant; David's joy was Zion's joy, and her exaltation would be David's&nbsp; (<a href='B:230 51:18'>Psa 51:18</a>; <a href='B:230 69:35'>Psa 69:35</a>; <a href='B:230 87:2'>Psa 87:2</a>; <a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>; <a href='B:230 121:3-4'>Psa 121:3-4</a>; <a href='B:230 125:1'>Psa 125:1</a>; <a href='B:230 128:5'>Psa 128:5</a>; <a href='B:230 146:10'>Psa 146:10</a>; <a href='B:230 149:2'>Psa 149:2</a>). This is how we are to make sense of suffering- by understanding that it plays a role in the salvation of others, and is part of a wider nexus of Divine operation. We suffer so that we may be able to minister the comfort we receive to others (<a href='B:540 1:4'>2Co 1:4</a>). Job likewise came to realize that his sufferings were not so much for his personal maturing, but for the teaching and salvation of the friends.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We have sinned with our fathers-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Continuing the thought of :5, the Psalmist felt that he personally was somehow involved in the sin of God’s people (“we&nbsp;have sinned”); Ezra and Daniel prayed and felt likewise at the time of the exile. We aren’t called to smug self righteousness, avoiding guilt by association; but rather the opposite. We are to feel a personal involvement in the failures and successes of God’s people as a whole.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Paul, his joy and crown would be to see his brethren accepted into God's Kingdom at judgment day. David had the same spirit when he wrote of how he longed to "see the prosperity of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance" (<a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>). His personal vision of God's Kingdom involved seeing others there; there's no hint of spiritual selfishness in David. And he goes straight on to comment: "We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity::. our fathers understood not::." (<a href='B:230 106:6'>Psa 106:6</a>). David felt himself very much at one with the community of God's children, both in their failures and in their ultimate hope. Life with God simply can't be lived in isolation from the rest of His people. Our salvation in that sense has a collective aspect to it, and if we want 'out' with the community of believers in this life, then we're really voting ourselves out of their future glory.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We have committed iniquity-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The word used by David about his sin (<a href='B:230 38:6'>Psa 38:6</a>). David's repentance and restoration was to be their pattern.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We have done wickedly-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is s:w. <a href='B:230 18:21'>Psa 18:21</a>, where earlier David had&nbsp; boasted that "I have not wickedly departed from my God". "Wickedly departed" is the word usually translated "condemn" (e:g. <a href='B:230 37:33'>Psa 37:33</a>). Those who depart from God condemn themselves. This is a major Biblical theme; that the condemned are more self-condemned rather than condemned by God. "We make the answer now". But now later David was to realize that he too had wickedly departed from God, and confession of that was vital for salvation.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Our fathers didn’t understand Your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of Your graces, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Even at the very moment of their salvation they were rebellious. God didn’t save them because they had reached a certain level of righteousness, let alone "understanding", but because of His grace; see on :12. The Red Sea crossing represents our baptism (<a href='B:530 10:1-2'>1Co 10:1-2</a>); God has saved us by His grace, not because of our righteousness.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Because of the high degree of God manifestation in Moses, he was so severely punished for not sanctifying Yahweh in the eyes of Israel in his sin of smiting the rock. Israel provoking his spirit to sin at this time is spoken of in the context of the way in which they provoked God’s spirit (<a href='B:230 106:7'>Psa 106:7</a>; <a href='B:230 106:29'>Psa 106:29</a>; <a href='B:230 106:33'>Psa 106:33</a>; <a href='B:230 106:43'>Psa 106:43</a>) - such was God’s manifestation in Moses even while he was sinning. And so God is manifest in sinful men like us too. Moses knew this, he knew his closeness to God through manifestation, and yet he yearned to see God physically, he struggled with his distance from God (<a href='B:20 33:18'>Exo 33:18</a>; <a href='B:20 33:20'>Exo 33:20</a>). The spirit of Christ in the Psalms is similar. And for us too.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power known-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Salvation for His Name's sake is the same as saying that He saved them by grace (:1). Grace is the quintessence of the Yahweh Name. The "mighty power" that was made known was not so much His physical, material ability to divide waters- but His grace and salvation of the unworthy (:7).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up; so He led them through the depths, as through a desert-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :1, this is being cited in the context of exemplifying God's saving grace to the unworthy. He saved those who didn't "understand", who doubted right at the shores of the Red Sea (:7). But all the same He led them through the Red Sea, which was made as dry as the desert they would now be led through further. And God likewise can save even without full faith and "understanding" at the time of our baptism (<a href='B:530 10:1-2'>1Co 10:1-2</a>); if subsequently we believe in and cling to His saving program for us.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Saving and redeeming are the words brought together elsewhere only in the context of God's desire to be the "saviour and redeemer" of the exiles through His offer of restoration (<a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 60:16'>Isa 60:16</a>; <a href='B:290 63:9'>Isa 63:9</a>). The redemption of a misunderstanding and disbelieving people of God from Egypt could have been the pattern for the salvation and redemption of the exiles from Babylon. Deliverance from the hand of haters is an idea commonly used by David about his salvation from Saul (<a href='B:230 18:17'>Psa 18:17</a>; <a href='B:230 18:40'>Psa 18:40</a> and often). This early Psalm of David has been reworked, under Divine inspiration, to be relevant to the exiles.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The waters covered their adversaries, there was not one of them left-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The destruction of the Egyptians is cited here as an example of God's grace to Israel (see on <a href='B:230 106:1'>Psa 106:1</a>), and it is likewise used in <a href='B:230 136:15'>Psa 136:15</a>. One take on the situation is that God foreknew that if He had not killed those Egyptians, they would have killed the Israelites.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they believed His words, they sang His praise-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>All these examples from Israel's history are to exemplify God's absolute saving grace. They only "believed His words" after they had been saved through their Red Sea baptism (<a href='B:530 10:1-2'>1Co 10:1-2</a>). And so it can be in the Christian experience. This also explains why the New Testament speaks of us being baptized, by God through the Spirit. Grammatically, baptism is something done to us (<a href='B:530 12:13'>1Co 12:13</a>). This has its basis in how Israel were baptized into Moses by God (<a href='B:530 10:1-2'>1Co 10:1-2</a>). This is not to say that we should not first believe and then be baptized. But nearly every honest Christian would surely accept that our understanding and faith was weak at that point, and we were led by God's Spirit (or "providence", if you prefer) to the waters of baptism. We were saved as were Israel, but it is for us to believe it afterwards. See on :7,22.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They soon forgot His works, they didn’t wait for His word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to describe Israel's rebellions in language relevant to Saul, as if he represented them (<a href='B:90 13:8'>1Sa 13:8</a>). This Psalm likely started as one of David's, but was rewritten under Divine inspiration as relevant to the exiles. The impression is of haste: "They made haste, they forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel" (LXX). God's word is not revealed to us all in one go; His will is revealed in response to our patient response to what we currently understand of His will. And Israel ought to have perceived that God by grace had saved them. But they forgot that grace, and panicked when things didn't appear to work out, and turned away from Him rather than remembering His grace. And that was the lesson for the exiles.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>but gave in to their craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God had provided them with manna; but they craved flesh, meat; the same term is used in <a href='B:40 11:4'>Num 11:4</a>. This is the phrase only elsewhere used for Israel's coveting of meat in the wilderness (<a href='B:40 11:4'>Num 11:4</a>), but it is used once more, in <a href='B:240 21:26'>Pro 21:26</a>. This explains that the reason for their lust was because they were lazy (<a href='B:240 21:25'>Pro 21:25</a>). They ought to have instead thought of what they could give, rather than lusting for what they could additionally get. This generous attitude is the antidote to lust.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If we fulfil our fleshly craving, we will become internally and spiritually hungry. Giving in to our cravings isn’t the way to happiness. But the way God gave them their request is cited here as an example of God's grace to Israel; for that is the theme of this Psalm. The idea is repeated with the same words in <a href='B:290 10:16'>Isa 10:16</a>: "Therefore shall the Lord::. send among His fat ones leanness". Again we see the intended parallels between Israel in dispersion and Israel in the wilderness.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, Yahweh’s saint-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Aaron was a "saint" in that he was a chosen one, separated unto God's purpose. But the rebels were unprepared to accept God's choice of saviours; and yet His saving purpose still continued with them, despite punishing the rebels (:17). And this was the simple lesson for the exiles, and for us all as we despair of our own weakness.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We note that "Korah" isn't mentioned here, although the rebellion was by Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Perhaps this was because the "sons of Korah" survived and were zealous in the temple service. <a href='B:40 16:32'>Num 16:32</a>; <a href='B:40 26:10'>Num 26:10</a> stress that the "earth opened" (s:w:) and swallowed up Korah and his followers. The pointed omission of "Korah" here is perhaps to point out God's grace in working through Korah's descendants. And again, this was the message the exiles needed to grasp; their fathers had sinned, they were in captivity, but they needed to follow the pattern of the sons of Korah:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A fire was kindled in their company, the flame burned up the wicked-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The intention of this Psalm, as explained on :1, is to chronicle God's grace to a very sinful Israel. The "fire kindled" is the term used of the burning bush which was not consumed (<a href='B:20 3:2'>Exo 3:2</a>), just as mount Sinai was kindled with fire but not consumed (especially stressed in Deuteronomy; <a href='B:50 4:11'>Deu 4:11</a>; <a href='B:50 5:23'>Deu 5:23</a>; Deuteronomy 9; Deuteronomy 15). The idea is that although all Israel had sinned, only some of them were consumed, but the people as a whole were not consumed. The exiles would walk through kindled fire and not be consumed (s:w. <a href='B:290 43:2'>Isa 43:2</a>). God's purposes with His people would stand, even though the "fire was kindled" in the Babylon invasion (<a href='B:300 4:4'>Jer 4:4</a>; <a href='B:310 2:3'>Lam 2:3</a> s:w:), but they would be saved out of condemnation and not be consumed as a nation:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We have just read of the fire kindled in God's wrath against His people. But they kindled that fire themselves (<a href='B:290 9:18'>Isa 9:18</a>; <a href='B:350 7:6'>Hos 7:6</a>), and used it to produce a molten image. Israel were to make no images in worship, because the God they worshipped was real, existing in an actual material form in heaven. They were to make no image of Him because they were to believe He was for real, before their very eyes if they had perceptive eyes of faith. And they were to realize that their own bodies were in His image.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Their glory" refers to God. It was unthinkable that a nation changed their gods; they only did so when conquered by other nations who forced them to do so. This was the awful sin of Israel, in exchanging Yahweh for idols (<a href='B:300 2:11'>Jer 2:11</a>). They of course didn't see it as "exchange", but rather worshipping Yahweh through worshipping other idols; or worshipping Him as well as idols. This is the kind of temptation we face all the time; but here it is condemned as "exchanging" Yahweh for idols.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is good reason to believe that Romans 1 is a description of Israel in the wilderness; notice the past tenses there. <a href='B:520 1:23'>Rom 1:23</a> charges them with changing "the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like::. to four-footed beasts, and creeping things", clearly alluding to <a href='B:230 106:20'>Psa 106:20</a> concerning how Israel in the wilderness "Changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass" by making the golden calf. The effective atheism of Romans 1 is matched by <a href='B:230 106:21'>Psa 106:21</a> "They forgat God their saviour". The long catalogue of Israel's wilderness sins in Psalms 106 is similar to that in Romans 1. "Full of envy" (<a href='B:520 1:29'>Rom 1:29</a>) corresponds to them envying Moses (<a href='B:230 106:16'>Psa 106:16</a>), "whisperers" (<a href='B:520 1:29'>Rom 1:29</a>) to "murmurers" (<a href='B:230 106:25'>Psa 106:25</a>), and "inventors of evil things" (<a href='B:520 1:30'>Rom 1:30</a>) to God being angered with "their inventions" of false gods (<a href='B:230 106:29'>Psa 106:29</a>). Because of this "God gave them up" to continue in their sexual perversion and bitterness with each other even to the extent of murder (<a href='B:520 1:27'>Rom 1:27</a>; <a href='B:520 1:29'>Rom 1:29</a>). A rabble of about 2 million people living in moral anarchy with little law and order, driven on in their lust by the knowledge that God had rejected them is surely a frightening thing to imagine. The emphasis on sexual sin in Romans 1 is paralleled by 1 Corinthians 10 stressing the frequent failure of Israel in the wilderness in this regard. Against such an evil and God forsaking background that young generation rebelled, to become one of the most faithful groups of Israelites in their history. As such they set a glorious example to the youth of today in rebelling against a world that mocks any form of true spirituality.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>“Likeness” in <a href='B:520 1:23'>Rom 1:23</a> is used in the LXX in the frequent warnings not to make an image or likeness of any god, let alone Yahweh (<a href='B:20 20:4'>Exo 20:4</a>; <a href='B:50 4:16-25'>Deu 4:16-25</a>; <a href='B:230 106:20'>Psa 106:20</a>; <a href='B:290 40:18-19'>Isa 40:18-19</a>). The reason for this prohibition becomes clearer in the New Testament; the ultimate likeness of God is in His Son, and we are to create the likeness of His Son not as a mere physical icon, but within the very structure of our human personality and character.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They forgot God their Saviour who had done great things in Egypt-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As discussed on <a href='B:230 71:19'>Psa 71:19</a>, the "great / wondrous things" performed by God were His forgiveness and salvation of a condemned sinner like David. This is described in <a href='B:230 71:19'>Psa 71:19</a> as God doing "great things", the phrase used of the great things worked in visible miracles in Egypt (<a href='B:230 106:21'>Psa 106:21</a>) and at creation (<a href='B:230 136:7'>Psa 136:7</a>). But the forgiveness of people like David is no less a great miracle. Such great things are done because of His mercy / grace (<a href='B:230 136:4'>Psa 136:4</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>wondrous works in the land of Ham-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Mizraim or Egypt was the descendant of Ham (<a href='B:10 10:6'>Gen 10:6</a>; <a href='B:230 105:23'>Psa 105:23</a>; <a href='B:230 105:27'>Psa 105:27</a>; <a href='B:230 106:22'>Psa 106:22</a>). There may be an allusion to Khem, one of the main Egyptian gods. For the purpose of all the plagues was to demonstrate that Yahweh was the only God, and the Egyptian gods had no real existence.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And awesome things by the Red Sea-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The awesome thing done "by" and not "in" the Red Sea was that there on the shores of the Sea, Israel's faith collapsed. They did not understand nor "believe His words" (:7,12). And yet God saved them by grace. That was the wonderful work and awesome thing done by God which should be praised and remembered by us.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, so that He wouldn’t destroy them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here again is God's extreme grace. His intention to destroy Israel and make a new nation from Moses was changed; indeed His intended destruction of Aaron and Israel was turned away by Moses more than once (<a href='B:50 9:8'>Deu 9:8</a>; <a href='B:50 9:14'>Deu 9:14</a>; <a href='B:50 9:19-20'>Deu 9:19-20</a>; <a href='B:50 9:25'>Deu 9:25</a>). Such is His radical sensitivity, reflecting a love for His people which is beyond words to describe. The very "chosen" Moses whom the people had argued was not chosen (:16,17) was allowed to save those people who had rejected him. This clearly looks forward to the saving work of the Lord Jesus. Jeremiah likewise had stood before Yahweh "to turn away His wrath" (s:w. <a href='B:300 18:20'>Jer 18:20</a>); but the sin of the exiles was apparently even worse than that of Israel. For the wrath came upon the people and they were sent to Babylon. But in another sense, Jeremiah's intercession was heard; for they were not 'destroyed' completely. They could be restored. Daniel likewise prayed for the turning away of God's wrath (s:w. <a href='B:340 9:16'>Dan 9:16</a>); and the answer was in the seventy sevens prophecy. Ultimately, God would not destroy His people but restore them, although in His own way and in His own time. Which was not exactly as the exiles had hoped. The exiles had broken the covenant and were therefore to be destroyed (s:w. <a href='B:50 28:20'>Deu 28:20</a>; <a href='B:50 28:24'>Deu 28:24</a>). But God was again open to changing His stated purpose and saving them. It was all grace upon grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They didn’t believe His word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The word they disbelieved was the word of grace to Moses, that He would not destroy them as He had earlier stated (see on :23). But God had promised that although Israel despised the offer of the land, a "pleasant land" in that it could have been God's Kingdom on earth, yet even in their exile in the Gentile lands they preferred to His land, He would not "despise" them (s:w. <a href='B:30 26:44'>Lev 26:44</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the end, God gives us our dominant desire. Israel in the wilderness didn’t really desire the land, so they didn’t receive it. It was no "pleasant" to them, the 'land of desire' (AVmg:). Israel both despised the land, and they despised their God (<a href='B:40 14:11'>Num 14:11</a>; <a href='B:40 14:23'>Num 14:23</a>; <a href='B:40 14:31'>Num 14:31</a> RV). Our attitude as to whether or not we want to be in the Kingdom is essentially our attitude to God. This has far reaching implications. <a href='B:230 107:30'>Psa 107:30</a> likewise speaks of how the faithful are brought to the haven of their desire (RVmg:). All those who truly love the Lord’s appearing- with all that implies in practical life and belief- will be accepted (<a href='B:620 4:8'>2Ti 4:8</a>). And yet Israel didn’t have the dominant desire to be in the Kingdom, as Joshua and Caleb had. Why didn’t they? It is vital that we understand the reasons for their failure – such an understanding will be a safeguard to help prevent us from making the same mistake (<a href='B:520 15:4'>Rom 15:4</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>but murmured in their tents, and didn’t listen to Yahweh’s voice-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the face of God's amazing grace to them in not destroying them (see on :23), Israel muttered and murmured about the immediate problems of their lives. This obscured the wonderful voice of Yahweh assuring them of His saving grace. And so it is to this day.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Therefore He swore to them that He would overthrow them in the wilderness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But He didn't, because Moses interceded. An almighty God who swears but doesn't carry it out::. is a God of amazing grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that He would overthrow their seed among the nations, and scatter them in the gentile lands-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This suggests that Israel's scattering in Gentile lands had been threatened at the time of the murmuring of :25; for the Psalm is chronologically going through Israel's history. This isn't recorded in the records; because by grace God changed from that purpose at the time, because of Moses' intercession. But Israel are now reminded that in fact their scattering amongst the Gentiles, which was then currently ongoing, had been a judgment pronounced right back in the wilderness; and had not been carried out because of the amazing patience of God.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>To join oneself is the language of marriage. To eat sacrifice was a sign of fellowship with the god at whose table you were eating. And by doing these things they were effectively breaking their covenant relationship with Yahweh. But despite that, He still worked to save them and to preserve them nationally as His people. His grace is the more amazing, because He disregarded even their breaking of covenant with Him- because He was and is so passionate to save.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It could be argued that this too reflects God's grace. The threatened judgment was complete destruction of the entire nation (:26), but in reality the judgment was a plague which destroyed a relatively small number of them.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then Phinehas stood up, and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The grace of this was in that the plague was stopped, as it was at the time of the earlier rebellion (<a href='B:40 16:48'>Num 16:48</a>; <a href='B:40 16:50'>Num 16:50</a> cp. <a href='B:40 25:8'>Num 25:8</a>); when it had been in God's intention to totally destroy the entire people (:26). But as Paul brings out in Romans 1-8, that grace was all the same articulated through justice / judgment being done.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The grace of this was in that righteousness was counted to Phinehas. For none are righteous in their own strength; as Paul explains in Romans, it is credited to us by grace through faith. But how was it eternally credited to him? For descendants aren't counted righteous just because of their ancestors. The implication would therefore be that this imputed righteousness meant that he would therefore not die eternally; but he resurrected to life eternal. And this again is nothing but pure grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They angered Him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In <a href='B:50 9:18'>Deu 9:18</a> Moses says that his prayer of <a href='B:20 32:32'>Exo 32:32</a> was heard- in that he was not going to enter the land, but they would. Hence his urging of them to go ahead and enter the land- to experience what his self-sacrifice had enabled. In this we see the economy of God, and how He works even through sin. On account of Moses’ temporary rashness of speech, he was excluded- and yet by this, his prayer was heard. He was temporarily blotted out of the book, so that they might enter. Moses’ fleeting requests to enter the land must be read as a flagging from the height of devotion he reached, rather like the Lord’s request to escape the cross in Gethsemane. But ultimately he did what he intended- he gave his place in the Kingdom / land so that they might enter [although of course he will be in the future Kingdom]. This is why Moses stresses on the last day of his life that he wouldn’t enter the land for Israel’s sake (<a href='B:50 1:37'>Deu 1:37</a>; <a href='B:50 3:26'>Deu 3:26</a>; <a href='B:50 4:21'>Deu 4:21</a>). He saw that his sin had been worked through, and the essential reason for him not entering was because of the offer he had made. It “went ill with him for their sakes” (AV). So here again, even in sin and failure, was to be found grace in the way God used it. See on <a href='B:20 32:32'>Exo 32:32</a>.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>because they were rebellious against His spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Moses was willing to give his physical and eternal life for Israel's salvation (<a href='B:20 32:32'>Exo 32:32</a>). In a sense, his desire was heard. Because of the sin of a moment, caused by the provocation of the people he loved, God decreed that he could not enter the land of promise. For their sakes he was barred from the land; this is the&nbsp; emphasis of the Spirit (<a href='B:50 1:37'>Deu 1:37</a>; <a href='B:50 3:26'>Deu 3:26</a>; <a href='B:50 4:21'>Deu 4:21</a>); and <a href='B:230 106:32-33'>Psa 106:32-33</a> says that Moses was provoked to sin because Israel angered God, and that therefore "it went ill with Moses for their sakes". Truly, God by grace works through sinful man to achieve His glory. Thus Moses says that he must die “Because ye [plural] trespassed against me” (<a href='B:50 32:51'>Deu 32:51</a>). This all helps explain why the Lord Jesus Christ had to die, apart from the fact that He was mortal. He died the death of a sinner for our salvation, He felt all the emotions of the rejected, the full weight of God's curse; for "cursed is every one that hangs on a tree" in crucifixion (<a href='B:550 3:13'>Gal 3:13</a>). Moses is a superb and accurate type of the Lord Jesus. Therefore Moses in his time of dying must grant us insight into the death of our Lord, the prophet like him (<a href='B:50 18:18'>Deu 18:18</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They didn’t destroy the peoples as Yahweh commanded them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Moses ‘prophesied’ that Ephraim would “push the people [Gentile inhabitants of the land] together to the ends of the earth / land” (<a href='B:50 33:17'>Deu 33:17</a>). And yet <a href='B:350 7:8'>Hos 7:8</a> cp. <a href='B:230 106:34-36'>Psa 106:34-36</a> criticize Ephraim for failing to push the people out of the land. Moses’ prophecies about the tribes sound like predictions; but they were actually commands which those tribes had the freewill to obey or not. Despite the promise of the Kingdom, Israel didn't use that potential. And now at this point they were in exile amongst the Gentiles, because they had actually liked those peoples and chose their idols.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And the exiles had done just the same, and even at the restoration they likewise "mingled" with the nations through intermarriage (s:w. <a href='B:150 9:2'>Ezr 9:2</a>). Israel simply refused to learn from their history. "Learned their works" refers to their eager learning the ways of idolatry (:36); these are the "works" of :39.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They served their idols, which became a snare to them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In fulfilment of the warning of <a href='B:20 23:33'>Exo 23:33</a>. Idolatry itself leads to further failure- as part of a downward spiral. The figure of a snare suggests they were led to the point of being caught and slain by the snare. The idea of riches being a snare (<a href='B:610 6:9'>1Ti 6:9</a>) connects with copious OT references to idols as Israel's perpetual snare (<a href='B:20 23:33'>Exo 23:33</a>; <a href='B:50 7:16'>Deu 7:16</a>; <a href='B:70 2:3'>Jdg 2:3</a>; <a href='B:70 8:27'>Jdg 8:27</a>; <a href='B:230 106:36'>Psa 106:36</a>; <a href='B:350 5:1'>Hos 5:1</a>). Paul's point is surely that the desire of wealth is the equivalent of OT idolatry.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I noted on :36 that the figure of a snare suggests the idols killed them; and here we have this developed, in that they literally killed their children in the name of idols. Demons refer to idols (:36). Demons or idols have no real existence (<a href='B:530 8:4'>1Co 8:4</a>; <a href='B:530 10:20'>1Co 10:20</a>). Therefore when we read of demons being cast out in the Gospel records, this is the language of the day used for healing various illnesses rather than any evidence that demons actually exist.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But they continued doing so, and it was for shedding innocent blood like this that they went into captivity (s:w. <a href='B:300 2:34'>Jer 2:34</a>; <a href='B:300 19:4'>Jer 19:4</a>). And the impenitent exiles did the same in their persecution and murder of the restoration prophets (<a href='B:290 59:7'>Isa 59:7</a>). Again the point is being made that despite hardening themselves against the voice of history, God still had a willingness to try to work with them towards repentance:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Thus were they defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "works" are the idolatry of :35; the "works" of the Gentiles (:35) had become "their own works" (:39 AV). They had fully adopted the Gentile ways as their very own. They were thus unfaithful to Yahweh who was their husband; they were morally and sexually defiled and therefore liable to be stoned to death, burnt or at least divorced. These were the Mosaic law options for a husband whose wife was unfaithful or a prostitute. But the grace of it all is that like Hosea with Gomer (representing God and Israel), they were not destroyed as a people. God as it were broke His own law by seeking to have them back even after the great divorce:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against His people-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the burning anger which arises from the abuse of love; it was their prostitution which made God so furious (:39). But truly "the wrath of God is the love of God", as Emil Brunner observed. The extent of His anger was a reflection of the extent of His love for them which had been so abused. The kindling of Yahweh's anger begins a series of allusions to the book of Judges, here to <a href='B:70 2:14'>Jdg 2:14</a>; <a href='B:70 2:20'>Jdg 2:20</a> etc.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He abhorred His inheritance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is a mutuality between God and man. God and His Kingdom are our inheritance (<a href='B:230 78:55'>Psa 78:55</a>); but we are His inheritance. A man's inheritance was the essence of Himself, all He had in the world. And this is how we are to Him.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Into the hand of::." is the term repeatedly used in the Judges record (<a href='B:70 3:10'>Jdg 3:10</a>; <a href='B:70 3:12'>Jdg 3:12</a>; <a href='B:70 3:31'>Jdg 3:31</a>; <a href='B:70 4:2'>Jdg 4:2</a>; <a href='B:70 6:1'>Jdg 6:1</a>; <a href='B:70 10:7-18'>Jdg 10:7-18</a>; <a href='B:70 13:1'>Jdg 13:1</a>). Even the restored exiles were still "ruled over" by the "nations" (s:w. <a href='B:160 9:37'>Neh 9:37</a>). The restoration wasn't the degree of restoration of the Kingdom of God and His people which the restoration prophecies had presented as potentially possible.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Their enemies also oppressed them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Oppressed" is a common word in the record of the Judges (s:w. <a href='B:70 1:34'>Jdg 1:34</a>; <a href='B:70 2:18'>Jdg 2:18</a>; <a href='B:70 4:3'>Jdg 4:3</a>; <a href='B:70 6:9'>Jdg 6:9</a>; <a href='B:70 10:12'>Jdg 10:12</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They were brought into subjection under their hand-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again continues the allusion to the situation in the book of Judges (<a href='B:70 4:3'>Jdg 4:3</a>; <a href='B:70 4:6-11'>Jdg 4:6-11</a>; <a href='B:70 10:8'>Jdg 10:8</a>). The grace of it all is that time and again they were saved by Yahweh's "saviours", the judges, who looked ahead to Yehoshua, 'Yah's salvation', in the Lord Jesus. But the raising up of these saviours was by grace alone.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Many times He delivered them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The grace of it all was that each time, God said 'this is the last time', and Israel responded later 'Yes, but please, just this once, have mercy on us just once more'. And this went on many times. Each time God showed them special grace.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But they were rebellious in their ways, and were brought low in their iniquity-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Flesh must be humbled- either we do it now, we humble ourselves that we may be exalted in due time; or it will have to be done to us through the terror of rejection. Time and again ‘bringing low’ or ‘humiliation’ is the result of condemnation (<a href='B:50 28:43'>Deu 28:43</a>; <a href='B:140 28:19'>2Ch 28:19</a>; <a href='B:220 40:12'>Job 40:12</a>; <a href='B:230 106:43'>Psa 106:43</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Nevertheless He regarded their distress, when He heard their cry-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :43. Their lack of penitence was overlooked because God was simply so sensitive to the distress of His wayward people. This was the grace of it all.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He remembered for them His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His graces-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Israel kept their Passovers throughout the wilderness years, one would assume- but they never remembered the day that God brought them out of Egypt (<a href='B:230 78:42'>Psa 78:42</a>)- although notice how although Israel didn't remember God, yet He remembered them in His grace (<a href='B:230 106:7'>Psa 106:7</a>; <a href='B:230 106:45'>Psa 106:45</a>). We can read of the cross, speak of it, memorialize it as Israel did the exodus through the Passover ritual; and yet totally fail to realize the powerful imperatives which abound in its’ message. God's covenant is here demonstrated to be unilateral, from Him to man, by grace. The covenant in view is that with Abraham made in Genesis 15, which featured God making unilateral promises whilst Abraham was incapacitated and unable to do anything in response. Neither was there any clause added making it conditional upon his obedience. This is in sharp contrast with the law of Moses, the old covenant. Jeremiah, Zechariah and Ezekiel all make the point to the exiles that they had broken the old covenant, and therefore they could only be saved by reaffirming their part in the new covenant. For it was this covenant which is rightly paralleled here with the multitude of God's great grace, "graces" being an intensive plural for His great grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He made them also to be pitied by all those who carried them captive-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The book of Esther reveals the relative popularity and success of the Jews in Babylon / Persia. The descriptions of the exiles as captives groaning in a prison house must therefore be understood in spiritual terms. For the exiles were not under physical abuse. But they failed to realize their awful spiritual environment, and therefore spurned the opportunity for deliverance from it; and that is the reason so many reject the message of God's Kingdom today. The exiles particularly were shown "pity" by the powers of their day, allowing them to return to Zion and rebuild it (s:w. <a href='B:160 1:11'>Neh 1:11</a> "mercy"). This "pity" or "mercy before them that lead you captive" was specifically predicated upon their repentance (s:w. <a href='B:140 30:9'>2Ch 30:9</a>). But they didn't repent; and yet they were shown this mercy / pity. That was the grace of it all. This "pity" was the pity of God who would according to that pity / mercy regather them (s:w. <a href='B:290 54:7'>Isa 54:7</a>; <a href='B:450 1:16'>Zec 1:16</a>). He showed them that pity despite their impenitence; and yet most of them preferred to spurn it by remaining in exile.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Save us, Yahweh, our God, gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These last two verses are quoting from David's Psalm of thanksgiving when the ark was brought to Zion (<a href='B:130 16:35-36'>1Ch 16:35-36</a>). But the inspired Psalmist in <a href='B:230 106:47'>Psa 106:47</a> makes a slight change because he was using this Psalm in the context of the exiles wanting to be restored: "Gather us together and deliver us from the nations" is changed to "Gather us from among the nations". The ark was lost; it was the Jews themselves who were to come to Zion. The exile brought them to realize that the box called "the ark" was mere religion; the essence of it was that the dwelling place of God was no longer a box of acacia wood, but God's own repentant people.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Book V-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although this begins a new book, this Psalm appears to follow on from Psalms 106, which concludes with the exiled psalmist thanking God in the past tense for having delivered His people from exile. But we must understand that this doesn't mean that this is a Psalm of praise once the exiles had returned; for Psalms 106 is an appeal for God's grace to be shown in restoring the exiles. What is yet future is spoken of as having happened; it is a statement of faith in the deliverance which the faithful believe will happen. Psalms 107 is similar; it praises God in the past tense for the deliverance and reestablishment of His Kingdom in Judah which the [few] faithful exiles were praying and hoping for, in accordance with the restoration prophecies. And those prophecies are often alluded to in this Psalm.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good, for His grace endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His eternal grace is the theme of <a href='B:230 106:45'>Psa 106:45</a>. Psalms 107 continues the praise of this grace, and on that basis, expresses confidence that the restored Kingdom would indeed come about. People are invited to thank God for it as if it has happened- as an expression of faith in the final fulfilment of the restoration prophecies.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the redeemed by Yahweh say so-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is appealing to the restoration prophecies about the exiles being redeemed from captivity and returning to Zion (<a href='B:290 62:12'>Isa 62:12</a>; <a href='B:290 35:9-10'>Isa 35:9-10</a>; <a href='B:290 51:10-11'>Isa 51:10-11</a>; <a href='B:290 63:4'>Isa 63:4</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as God had historically redeemed His people from "trouble", so He would from the "adversary" of Babylon / Persia (s:w. :6). But the problem was that the exiles were comfortable in their exile, as the book of Esther demonstrates; and didn't perceive their environment as their "adversary".</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was what had been prayed for in <a href='B:230 106:47'>Psa 106:47</a>, and was according to the restoration prophecies (<a href='B:300 32:37'>Jer 32:37</a>; <a href='B:330 20:34'>Eze 20:34</a> etc:). The tragedy was that the exiles didn't want to return. The ten tribes assimilated into the lands of their exile, and the peoples of Judah preferred to stay where they were, for the most part. Only a small percentage of the Jewish exiles returned. The regathering from all points of the compass also didn't really happen; these things have been reinterpreted and reapplied, so that they will come true in essence but not in literal detail. The clear fulfilment is in the gathering of willing Gentile converts from all points of the compass to the spiritual Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way, they found no city to live in-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that as God's people were preserved through the wilderness journey, so would the exiles be. But most didn't even start the journey. And so these things have been reapplied and reinterpreted. Therefore the LXX of this phrase is quoted about the Christian believers in <a href='B:650 13:14'>Heb 13:14</a>. We too are on a wilderness journey after our Red Sea baptism, and find no place we can call home in that journey. Our place of rest and settling down isn’t in this life, but in the Kingdom which is to come at Christ’s return. The implication could be that Israel wanted to settle in the wilderness. They didn’t want to return to Egypt (although they did at times), they didn’t really desire the unknown promised land</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> so, they wanted to just settle down there in the wilderness. And so it can be with us. We can be happy with the way to the Kingdom, it can be that the social aspect of the Christian life suites us</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> we are content with it, and yet it can be that for all that, we lack a real sense of direction towards the Kingdom. We are going some place. The Christian life is but a path leading towards an end, and the end destination is the Kingdom:&nbsp;If we believe surely that we will be there, we will live lives which reflect this sense of concrete direction and aim.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Perhaps we can infer from this that Israel in the wilderness initially wanted to return to Egypt, and yet it is also true that they sought for a city to live in whilst in the wilderness. They wanted to just stay there in the wilderness. They didn’t want to return to Egypt, they didn’t really desire the unknown promised land</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>so, they wanted to just settle there in the wilderness. And so it can be with us. We can be happy with the way to the Kingdom, it can be that the social aspect of the Christian life suites us</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> we are content with it, and yet it can be that for all that, we lack a real sense of direction towards the Kingdom. We are going some place. The Christian life is but a path leading towards an end, and the end destination is the Kingdom. If we believe surely that we will be there, we will live lives which reflect this sense of concrete direction and aim.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Israel in the wilderness were made to suffer hunger so that they would come to realize that man doesn't live by bread alone, but by the words of God which went forth to create manna for them (<a href='B:50 8:3'>Deu 8:3</a>). Their soul "fainted" in that they refused to perceive thIsa. And so it was with the complaints of the exiles. Their experiences were intended to bring them to God.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distresses-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as God had historically redeemed His people from "trouble", so He would from the "adversary" of Babylon / Persia (s:w. :2). But the problem was that the exiles were comfortable in their exile, as the book of Esther demonstrates; and didn't perceive their environment as their "adversary".</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same word as in :4; the "way" the Israelites were led through the desert after the exodus could have corresponded to how the exiles were led from Babylon back to Zion. But although God gave Israel a straight way, it took them 38 years of wandering. For they didn't use the potential He gave them. And so it was with the exiles, and with many attempted journeys towards God's Kingdom. Likewise Ezra prayed for a "straight way" from exile to Zion (s:w. <a href='B:150 8:21'>Ezr 8:21</a>). But although it was provided, few of the exiles wanted to even begin the way. Their journey from Babylon to Zion was "that they might go to a city to live in", as if Babylon was not in fact a city they could live in. But sadly, many of the exiles preferred it to Zion. "A straight way" is a phrase used more frequently of walking before God in a "right way" (<a href='B:90 12:23'>1Sa 12:23</a> and very often). The "way" back to Zion was not just a physical journey, but a walking in God's ways. And the Biblical historians of the 'restoration' indicate that this was not the path which the returning exiles walked in. The intention was that the exiles would enter the new covenant and "be caused to walk in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble" (<a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>). But the exiles who returned did stumble (<a href='B:460 2:8'>Mal 2:8</a>). The potential spiritual strength to keep them in the way was not used. Potentially, the cherubim which departed from Zion in Ezekiel's vision would have returned with "straight feet" (<a href='B:330 1:7'>Eze 1:7</a>). The way back was plain and clear, with every blessing along it. But the exiles preferred Babylon. And so these things are reapplied to the new Israel, who are to walk in a straight way towards God's restored Kingdom (<a href='B:650 12:13'>Heb 12:13</a>). See on :40.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them praise Yahweh for His grace, for His wonderful works to the children of men!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This was the intended picture of the joy of the returned, restored exiles. But they didn't perceive their sinfulness nor His grace, and so their praise was not at all so ecstatic as envisaged here. "His grace", His unending forgiveness and patient desire to save, was to be perceived as His greatest "work". This ultimately came to full articulation in the death of His Son.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He satisfies the longing soul, He fills the hungry soul with good-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Satisfying::. with good" quotes the restoration prophecy of <a href='B:300 31:14'>Jer 31:14</a> (s:w:). This Psalm is an expression of faith in the fulfilment of the restoration prophecies; but it was not yet fulfilled. Those "longing" for grace and true spiritual restoration (:8) would be given it. But finally this 'filling' was to be through the Lord Jesus. And therefore Mary quoted this verse about how she had been filled with good things (<a href='B:490 1:53'>Luk 1:53</a>); but Zacharias quoted the next verse, :10, shortly afterwards (<a href='B:490 1:79'>Luk 1:79</a>). Surely Mary had gotten him thinking in the same paths as she did. Our spirituality can influence others positively, consciously and unconsciously. This is why it’s important to mix in spiritual company.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This alludes to how Joseph in Egypt was bound in iron (<a href='B:230 105:18'>Psa 105:18</a> s:w:), and Israel in Egypt are similarly described. The situation of the exiles in Babylon was not so physically awful. But they were expected to perceive that the opulence of Babylon was in fact "darkness and the shadow of death" (s:w. <a href='B:290 9:2'>Isa 9:2</a>; <a href='B:300 13:16'>Jer 13:16</a>). Because they didn't perceive that, the good news of exodus and deliverance from that wasn't so attractive to them. And so it is with people today. See on :14.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>because they rebelled against the words of God, and condemned the counsel of the Most High-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is one of a number of Biblical verses which suggest that we as it were stand in judgment upon God when we encounter His word. He overcomes every claim that His word is untrue and therefore He is condemned (<a href='B:520 3:4'>Rom 3:4</a>). That we mere humans should judge God the judge of all is an arresting concept; but this is what we are in effect doing when we consider His claims, His promises of saving us which are throughout His word.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "most high God" could suggest that they believed in many gods, but in their desperate moments, recognized Yahweh as the "most high" of them all. And this was why they ultimately rebelled against Yahweh's words, probably a reference specifically to the words of the covenant. Let us remember that Israel carried the tabernacle of their god Remphan through the desert as well as that of Yahweh.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Therefore He brought down their heart with labour, they fell down-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Fell down" is the word translated "feeble": "There was not one feeble person among His tribes" (<a href='B:230 105:37'>Psa 105:37</a>), but prior to this the Israelites had indeed been "feeble" before their Egyptian captors (s:w. <a href='B:230 107:12'>Psa 107:12</a>). This means that the feeble were made strong; and this was exactly the promise to the exiles, that they who were "feeble" in Babylonian exile would be strengthened so that they could&nbsp; leave Babylon and be restored to the land (s:w. <a href='B:290 35:3'>Isa 35:3</a>). The word for "feeble" is often translated "cast down" and is used of how Judah had been at the time of their exile into Babylon (<a href='B:300 6:21'>Jer 6:21</a>; <a href='B:300 8:12'>Jer 8:12</a>; <a href='B:300 18:15'>Jer 18:15</a>; <a href='B:310 1:14'>Lam 1:14</a>; <a href='B:350 5:5'>Hos 5:5</a> and often). But they would be led out of Babylon in a straight way and without stumbling / being feeble (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>); the "feeble" would be strengthened (<a href='B:450 12:8'>Zec 12:8</a> s:w:). Yet when they returned to the land, they were "feeble" (s:w. <a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a> "decayed"; <a href='B:460 2:8'>Mal 2:8</a> "stumbled"). The potential strengthening wasn't used by them:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And there was none to help-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"None to help" is the phrase used in prophecy of the Lord's crucifixion in <a href='B:230 22:11'>Psa 22:11</a> "Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none else to help". The same words are used for how Israel and the exiles were under persecution with none to help apart from God (<a href='B:310 1:7'>Lam 1:7</a>). The paradox was that God saved His people through the Lord Jesus exactly because they had "none to help" (<a href='B:290 63:5'>Isa 63:5</a> s:w:). But He Himself had to go through that experience of having none to help (<a href='B:230 22:11'>Psa 22:11</a>). Their salvation was achieved through His being their total representative.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although the allusion may be to the Red Sea deliverance, the plural "distresses" suggests that this 'crying to Yahweh' occurred many times. And the identical phrase is a key phrase in the Judges record (<a href='B:70 3:9'>Jdg 3:9</a>; <a href='B:70 3:15'>Jdg 3:15</a>; <a href='B:70 6:6-7'>Jdg 6:6-7</a>; <a href='B:70 10:10'>Jdg 10:10</a>). The Judges record has been alluded to in <a href='B:230 106:40-42'>Psa 106:40-42</a> as a parade example of God's saving grace to Israel. The grace of it all was that each time, God said 'this is the last time', and Israel responded later 'Yes, but please, just this once, have mercy on us just once more'. And this went on many times. Each time God showed them special grace. Time and again they were saved by Yahweh's "saviours", the judges, who looked ahead to Yehoshua, 'Yah's salvation', in the Lord Jesus. But the raising up of these saviours was by grace alone.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their bonds in sunder-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The deliverance from Egypt could have been replicated in deliverance from Babylon. But the difference was that the Jews were not being abused in Babylon; rather were they being ensnared by the soft life. And they didn't want to perceive that they were in a spiritual prison, despite its opulence in secular terms. Most of the exiles spurned this great salvation. And yet it will be fulfilled for God's new Israel in their redemption from death and the grave. "The land of darkness and the shadow of death" refers so often to the grave (<a href='B:220 10:21'>Job 10:21</a>). Egypt and Babylon were figuratively the land of death; but the prophecies of the deliverance of God's people from them will come ultimately true in our redemption from death through the resurrection of the body to eternal life in the restored Kingdom of God on earth.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them praise Yahweh for His grace, for His wonderful works to the children of men!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The salvation of Israel historically was by grace alone; for when they cried to Him in desperation, their faith and repentance was hardly very deep because they immediately returned to their own ways once they were rescued. And yet given this pattern of grace, the psalmist can confidently exhort Judah and the exiles to again pray and throw themselves upon this grace; but they must perceive it as grace, and make it real and permanent. His "wonderful works" were not so much in His material saving of them, but in the amazing grace He showed to them.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He has broken the gates of brass and cut through bars of iron-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to allude to the famed gates and bars of Babylon, and is imagining the fulfilment of <a href='B:290 45:2'>Isa 45:2</a>. But Babylon didn't fall as potentially envisaged in the prophets; for Judah didn't repent, and Cyrus who was to break the gates didn't live up to his potential. Therefore the gates weren't broken or cut; a different scenario played out when the Medes took Babylon.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience and because of their iniquities-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is as close as we get to an admission of sin; a confession of iniquity, disobedience and foolishness, and an acceptance of the consequences ['affliction']. The "afflictions" of David are presented as a pattern for those of the exiles (<a href='B:230 132:1'>Psa 132:1</a>). They too denied their sin initially and struggled to accept its consequences; but David's path of repentance and restoration was to be theirs. But for the most part they refused to follow thIsa. LXX "He helped them out of the way of their iniquity" hints at the psychological help from the Holy Spirit which was available potentially, just as it is for the new Israel who wish to leave Babylon for Zion.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Their soul abhors every kind of food, they draw near to the gates of death-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to be one of a number of allusions to Job (here to <a href='B:220 33:20'>Job 33:20</a>), whose book would have been one of the early scriptures available to David and the psalmist who has used David's earlier psalm here. Drawing near to the gates of death was how David felt (<a href='B:230 9:13'>Psa 9:13</a>; <a href='B:230 88:3'>Psa 88:3</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, He saves them out of their distresses-</p><h2>The cry to Yahweh is made at the point of death (:18). The exiles failed to perceive that they were facing spiritual death in Babylon. For they were popular and prosperous there, and were not at all at knife point as they had been in Egypt. And therefore they failed to cry to Yahweh for deliverance as they should have done.</h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He sends His word and heals them, and delivers them from their graves-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This repeats the promise of the revived dry bones in Ezekiel 37; the exiles were to be as it were resurrected from their graves. This was the potential degree of revival possible for the exiles. It was prefigured in the "word" sent to Hezekiah to heal him of his sickness (<a href='B:120 20:4'>2Ki 20:4</a>; <a href='B:290 38:4'>Isa 38:4</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them praise Yahweh for His grace, for His wonderful works to the children of men!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles are bidden praise God ahead of time for His grace, as if it had already been experienced. This is the essence of faith, to see things from God's perspective, believing and feeling at the point of asking that we receive what we have requested (<a href='B:480 11:24'>Mar 11:24</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with singing-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm may well have been used in the temple services, and at this point there was an invitation to the community to join in the singing. The exiles had no temple, priesthood or altar; they are being invited to understand that the essence of sacrifice is not the blood of animals, but the words and thoughts of God's people.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm envisages God's prophetic word of restoration as coming gloriously true, and the thanksgiving offered was to be as sailors might thank their God after a deliverance from certain death in a storm. The allusion is to the restoration prophecy of <a href='B:290 42:10'>Isa 42:10</a>, which the psalmist praises as if it has been fulfilled. The "great" or "many waters" (AV) refer to the many nations, who for all their apparent power were to be stilled by God in a moment to prepare the way for His restored Kingdom.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>these see Yahweh’s works, and His wonders in the deep-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as God did wonders in "the deep" of the Red Sea, so He in fact had done upon "many waters" (:23 AV). See on :23. "The deep" refers to the literal bottom of the sea. The waves of the surface water were imagined to be caused by monsters of evil who were in the "depths" of the sea. The sea was seen as mysterious and the abode of the forces of evil. These ideas are deconstructed here. God is all powerful; there is no 'Satan' being which is a source of radical evil, outside of God's control. Even if such things were believed in, Yahweh was able to do His wonders in the very lair of these supposed beings.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He commands, and raises the stormy wind which lifts up its waves-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The storm waves arise not because of any monster of evil, but at God's command. The Hebrew words for "wind" and "spirit" are the same; and God makes His Angels winds / spirits (<a href='B:230 104:4'>Psa 104:4</a>). The seas represent the nations, from whom the exiles had been saved. Their storm against God's people had been raised up at God's command, operationalized through the Angels.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The salvation of Jonah in a similar storm represented that of the exiles, if they were willing to perceive it. But the exiles didn't want to accept that the opulence of Babylon was in fact a storm amongst the seas of nations which was driving them to cry to Yahweh for deliverance (:27). The deliverance of the disciples from storms was clearly a fulfilment of this kind of language about danger at sea, desperate cries to God, and then sudden calm. But the significance of the connection is that the exiles had precluded the possibility of salvation from the "seas" of the Gentile world at their time; and so these things were reapplied to the Lord Jesus and His people.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They reel back and forth and stagger like a drunken man, all their wisdom disappears-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Salvation from the storm of the Gentile seas was not by human wisdom. There was no way out from death in the storm. They were driven to a point where they had to cry to Yahweh (:28). But the exiles were not materially driven to such a point. God in His kindness and mercy to them in exile didn't allow them to be maltreated. And yet the result was that the desperate cry for deliverance wasn't elicited from the majority.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble and He brings them out of their distress-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :27. This phrase is a refrain throughout the Psalm (:6,13,19,28):&nbsp; God would have brought the exiles out of the spiritual distress of the captivity; but the majority preferred to remain, and the few who did return did so, it seems, motivated by what land and homes they could carve out for themselves. So this redemption from distress was spurned by the exiles, and is reapplied to the great salvation offered now in the Lord Jesus. The day of "distress" was that of their judgment for their sins by the Babylonian invasion (s:w. <a href='B:430 1:15'>Zep 1:15</a>). But God would bring them out of that consequence for sin. That was the psalmist's hope and confidence. But the tragedy was that the exiles didn't want to know.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may mean that the ideal intention was that the nations where God's people were exiled would repent and also accept Yahweh. They would then be still and at peace with Him. But this didn't happen at the time as envisaged. Therefore the image of still seas after storm is used of how things shall finally be at the last day (<a href='B:730 15:2'>Rev 15:2</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then they are glad because it is calm, and so He brings them to their desired haven-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on <a href='B:230 106:24'>Psa 106:24</a>. The idea of God stilling a storm and getting terrified sailors immediately to their port clearly had fulfilment in how Christ stilled the storm on the lake of Galilee (<a href='B:500 6:18-21'>Joh 6:18-21</a>). This doesn’t mean that He is God Himself, but rather that Old Testament statements about God were fulfilled in His Son, who manifested the Father to perfection. But the significance of the connection is that the exiles had precluded the possibility of salvation from the "seas" of the Gentile world at their time; and so these things were reapplied to the Lord Jesus and His people.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them praise Yahweh for His grace, for His wonderful works for the children of men!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This phrase is a refrain throughout the Psalm. See notes on :8,15,21,31.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them exalt Him also in the gathering of the people, and praise Him in the seat of the elders-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Note the parallel between elders and the assembly / gathering of the general congregation. All alike were to be awed by God's grace. Likewise <a href='B:510 15:22'>Act 15:22</a> parallels the elders and the whole congregation: “The apostles and elders with the whole church” agreed a solution. It wasn’t a top down decision imposed upon the congregation. They all participated.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He turns rivers into a desert, water springs into a thirsty ground-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the allusions to the restoration prophecies. The restored Kingdom of God could have come at the restoration, complete with a Messiah figure. But it was precluded by the failures of the various potential Messiahs like Zerubbabel, and by the impenitence of the exiles.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>and a fruitful land into a salt waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The envisaged restitution was to be a radical inversion of all things. It was Babylon which was to be turned into a salt waste. The prophecies of her fall speak of supernatural Divine judgment ruining the land surrounding Babylon, akin to the scale and nature of Sodom's destruction. But this didn't happen. Babylon didn't fall suddenly, as envisaged; the prophetic scenario was reapplied and recalculated to the fall of the latter day Babylon in Revelation 18, which alludes to all those prophecies of Babylon's fall which didn't come about as potentially possible at the time.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:330 47:11'>Eze 47:11</a> likewise envisaged some places in the restored Zion as being still "a salt waste". But the exiles didn't rebuild Zion according to the commandments in Ezekiel 40-48 and so this didn't come about as it then could have done.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This kind of radical inversion of all things, socially and also in the natural creation, was to be the hallmark of the restored Kingdom of God. But the deserts weren't transformed when the exiles returned, and the restoration prophets record how they suffered terribly with drought, disease, pests, famine and poor harvests. What could have been just didn't come about- at that time. It has all been reinterpreted with reference to the restoration of the Kingdom of God at the return of the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There He makes the hungry live, that they may prepare a city to live in-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The picture of the returned exiles arriving hungry but preparing Zion their city, with the waste areas made miraculously fertile (:35), enjoying great harvests and mushrooming livestock (:37,38) just didn't happen. They returned in weak faith, seeking only their own personal advantage, and therefore they suffered terribly with drought, disease, pests, famine and poor harvests. And most didn't want to "prepare a city", to rebuild Zion; they were prepared to leave it broken down whilst they built their own houses and farmsteads, as Haggai laments.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>sow fields, plant vineyards, and reap the fruits of increase-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The psalmist was rejoicing in faith the restoration prophecies which spoke of these things (<a href='B:290 65:21'>Isa 65:21</a>; <a href='B:300 31:5'>Jer 31:5</a>) would surely come true. But they didn't come true at the pathetically small 'restoration' which occurred. See on :36. The famine was so severe that the returned exiles had to mortgage their vineyards and fields just to get food to eat (<a href='B:160 5:3-5'>Neh 5:3-5</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; He doesn’t allow their livestock to decrease-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The language of blessing and 'multiplying greatly' is all that of the promises to Abraham (<a href='B:10 17:2'>Gen 17:2</a>; <a href='B:10 17:8'>Gen 17:8</a>). Those promises are the basis of the new covenant, which was offered to the exiles because they had broken the old covenant. But they refused the offer, and instead kept trying to keep parts of the old covenant. And so the exiles who returned didn't experience this great multiplication of blessing which was potentially possible. 'Multiplication' is repeatedly a theme of the restoration prophecies (<a href='B:300 30:19'>Jer 30:19</a>; <a href='B:330 36:11'>Eze 36:11</a>; <a href='B:330 36:29'>Eze 36:29</a> etc:).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again, they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Bowed down" is the word used of how in repentance over Bathsheba, David was "bowed down greatly" (<a href='B:230 38:6'>Psa 38:6</a>). The word can mean 'to humble'; and this is the required response to sin. David was representative of Israel in their sinfulness; they were intended to follow his path of penitence. If the exiles had done so, then they would have been restored as he was; but they didn't.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in a trackless waste-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is what could have happened to the leaders of Babylon. As it happened, the princes of Babylon were largely onside with the Medes when they took the city, and only Belshazzar was slain. They could have suffered the condemnation of Israel, wandering in the desert- in contrast to the way that the exiles potentially had been given a "straight" path back to Zion, and could have had a straight path through the wilderness to Canaan when they first left Egypt. See on :7. Condemnation is here pictured as wandering without a "way"; the condemnation of the wicked at the last day will likewise be a reflection of their aimless lives, for all their talk of career paths and milestones of achievement.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yet He lifts the needy out of their affliction, and increases their families like a flock-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>AV "maketh him families". The Israelites were likewise set in families when they left Egypt (<a href='B:230 68:6'>Psa 68:6</a>). The allusion is to how Israel in Egypt were saved through uniting in family units around the Passover lamb. Those without families were set together with families, and were delivered as families. And God was willing to repeat the Exodus deliverance for the captives in Babylon / Persia. But just as people effectively spurn family life today, and dislike the discipline of life in a church family, so they will find the condemnation process to be so unbearably lonely.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The upright will see it, and be glad. All the wicked will shut their mouths-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idiom of shutting the mouth could imply that they accept the rightness of God's ways and their wrongness. For the intention of the judgment upon Babylon was always ultimately that they should repent, and join with repentant Judah in forming a new multiethnic people of God in the land.</p>


text:
<h2>A Song. A Psalm of David-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Psalms 108 is very similar to Psalms 60, which is a prayer at the time of the war with Edom. There were some reverses in that campaign, lamented in Psalms 44, 60. But here we have the song of final praise for the victory, although remembering the reverses suffered.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My heart is steadfast, God. I will sing and I will make music with my soul-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Literally, 'made steadfast'. David had earlier understood that for the humble and righteous, God can "prepare their heart" (<a href='B:230 10:17'>Psa 10:17</a>). This is evidence enough that God works directly upon the human heart and psychology, which He does today through the work of His Spirit upon the human spirit. For it is men who must prepare their heart in prayer and relationship toward God (s:w. <a href='B:140 12:14'>2Ch 12:14</a>; <a href='B:220 11:13'>Job 11:13</a>; <a href='B:230 7:9'>Psa 7:9</a>). But God can also do this for the humble. Hence David later asks God to create in him a 'prepared' heart (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a>). And God heard; for the same phrase is used of how God 'prepared' or (AV) "fixed" / NEV 'made steadfast' his heart (<a href='B:230 57:7'>Psa 57:7</a>; <a href='B:230 108:1'>Psa 108:1</a>; <a href='B:230 112:7'>Psa 112:7</a>). In allusion to this, Solomon was to later reflect that God can direct or 'prepare' (s:w:) the heart of man, even if he is thinking to direct his steps elsewhere (<a href='B:240 16:9'>Pro 16:9</a>). </p>


text:
<h2>Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Or as AV "I myself will awake early". The Psalms continually stress the importance of starting each day with the Lord; David gives the impression his heart was bursting with praise as he awoke, and he instinctively wanted to grab his harp and play and sing praise.</p>


text:
<h2>I will give thanks to You, Yahweh, among the nations, I will sing praises to You among the peoples-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>How did David achieve his aim of praising Yahweh to the surrounding nations, as a means of witness to them of the God of Israel? Surely through his Psalms being distributed as popular music to them.</p>


text:
<h2>For Your grace is great above the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm is praising God for the victorious campaign against Edom. But as noted on :1 and on the related <a href='B:230 60:9'>Psa 60:9</a>, there had at times been reverses in the campaign, because Israel hadn't been obedient to the covenant. And so David recognizes that the overall victory had been by Divine grace. Grace / mercy and truth / faithfulness often refer to the Abrahamic covenant. He recognizes that victory over enemies was because of God's covenant faithfulness; even though at times they had broken that covenant.</p>


text:
<h2>Be exalted, God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The earth / eretz promised to Abraham was still largely in the hand of non-Israelites who were not in covenant with Yahweh. David's desire was that through his music ministry (see on :3), all the eretz would lift up Israel's God as exalted. There is surely nobody else recorded in the Old Testament who had such passion to witness to the Gentiles and convert them.</p>


text:
<h2>That Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and answer us-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The parallel is in <a href='B:230 60:5'>Psa 60:5</a>, which has the same words, but concludes "and answer us":&nbsp; "The beloved of Yahweh" was Israel nationally (s:w. <a href='B:50 33:12'>Deu 33:12</a>; <a href='B:300 11:15'>Jer 11:15</a>; <a href='B:300 12:7'>Jer 12:7</a>). But it was also David personally; a Psalm about David's personal deliverance is extended to all Israel. David saw himself as representative of God's people. It could be that Solomon is in view also; for his original name was Jedidiah (<a href='B:100 12:25'>2Sa 12:25</a>), 'the beloved of Yahweh', referred to in that way by David in <a href='B:230 45:1'>Psa 45:1</a>. Perhaps Solomon was involved in the battle against the Edomites and David is asking for his son to be preserved.</p>


text:
<h2>God has spoken from His sanctuary: In triumph I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Presumably there was a direct Divine communication from the sanctuary, perhaps through the mouth of Nathan, encouraging Israel to continue in the Edom campaign despite the reverses experienced (see on Psalms 44, 60). The idea of 'division' and 'measuring' is 'possession' and inheritance (as <a href='B:60 18:10'>Jos 18:10</a>). The idea therefore is that Israel is God's, and He had given it to Israel for inheritance; therefore those seeking to take it from them would be defeated. Perhaps Succoth and Shechem are mentioned because of their connections with Jacob, mentioned together in <a href='B:10 33:17-18'>Gen 33:17-18</a>. As He had been with Jacob, despite allowing him to experience many setbacks and near defeats, so He would be with the later seed of Israel.</p>


text:
<h2>Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is my helmet. Judah is my sceptre-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The emphasis is that the land belongs to God, it "is Mine"; therefore those seeking to take it from God's people. would be defeated. Gilead and Manasseh represent the territory east of the Jordan; and Ephraim and Judah refer to the tribes west of the Jordan. The territories east of the Jordan just as much were God's as those to the west of it; for the Edomites were seeking to take firstly the Israelite territory east of the Jordan.</p>


text:
<h2>Moab is my wash pot, I will toss my sandal on Edom, I will shout over Philistia-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They were to become subservient to Yahweh. And that could imply that the hope was that they would accept Him as their God. For that was what conquered peoples usually did. David had earlier shouted in triumph over the Philistines when he slew Goliath; and that was to prepare him for this later victory. Circumstances repeat in our lives because they are under God's control.</p>


text:
<h2>Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who has led me to Edom?- </h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Strong city" can mean the fortified, strengthened city under siege (<a href='B:120 25:2'>2Ki 25:2</a> s:w:). The reference may be to Sela or Petra, Edom's capital, which claimed to be fortified against any invader (<a href='B:380 1:3'>Oba 1:3</a>).</p>


text:
<h2>Haven’t You rejected us, God? You don’t go forth, God, with our armies-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm is clearly related to Psalms 44, which appears to be a comment upon a temporary set back and defeat during this campaign against Edom. But despite this, the Psalm glorifies how God had come through for His people, despite the temporary reverses. So this comment that God has rejected them would be looking back to how they once felt; for this Psalm is a victory song over Edom after defeating them as it is so similar to Psalms 60 (see on <a href='B:230 60:1'>Psa 60:1</a>).</p>


text:
<h2>Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is vain-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Perhaps a reference to some attempt to hire mercenaries to help them in the campaign against Edom.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm was apparently initially written about his persecution by Saul, but then expanded and reapplied to his experiences with Shimei and Ahithophel at the time of Absalom's rebellion.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God of my praise, don’t remain silent-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The apparent silence of God is the abiding struggle of every true believer. But David juxtaposes this struggle with the statement that he will always praise God. Regardless of our difficulties with the problem of evil and the apparent silence of God, He is still to be the object of our praise. The problem of evil and God's silence is in fact built in to our human experience to test and develop our love and trust in God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The continued emphasis in David's psalms upon "without cause" surely reflects a self righteousness (<a href='B:230 35:19'>Psa 35:19</a>; <a href='B:230 69:4'>Psa 69:4</a>; <a href='B:230 109:3'>Psa 109:3</a>; <a href='B:230 119:161'>Psa 119:161</a>). For David's righteousness was only impressive relative to the wickedness of his enemies; before God, it was filthy rags. It was true that Saul persecuted David "without cause" (s:w. <a href='B:90 19:5'>1Sa 19:5</a>), but the experience of "without cause" persecution can lead us to an inappropriate self-righteousness. This is what happened to Job, who also suffered "without cause" (s:w. <a href='B:220 2:3'>Job 2:3</a>), and had to be convicted of self-righteousness at the end of the story. And it seems this happened to David. David himself intended to shed blood "without cause" and was only saved from it by grace (s:w. <a href='B:90 25:31'>1Sa 25:31</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Reading through the book of Psalms in one or two sittings reveals that frequent and intense self-examination was a leading characteristic of David:, especially while on the run from Saul and Absalom; as if he began to pick up false guilt from how he was being treated, wondering if it was all in fact justified (<a href='B:230 4:4'>Psa 4:4</a>; <a href='B:230 7:3'>Psa 7:3</a>; <a href='B:230 17:3'>Psa 17:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:20-24'>Psa 18:20-24</a>; <a href='B:230 19:12'>Psa 19:12</a>; <a href='B:230 26:1'>Psa 26:1</a>; <a href='B:230 39:1'>Psa 39:1</a>; <a href='B:230 59:3'>Psa 59:3</a>; <a href='B:230 66:18'>Psa 66:18</a>; <a href='B:230 77:6'>Psa 77:6</a>; <a href='B:230 86:2'>Psa 86:2</a>; <a href='B:230 101:2'>Psa 101:2</a>; <a href='B:230 109:3'>Psa 109:3</a>; <a href='B:230 139:23-24'>Psa 139:23-24</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This clearly applies to David's love for Saul, refusing to kill him when he could have done, and lamenting over him as man mourns for his mother (<a href='B:230 35:14'>Psa 35:14</a>). And likewise of his senseless love for Absalom. And yet again we could note that David speaks so much hatred for Saul in the Psalms; he is choosing to focus upon his own more positive side, rather than seeing that he too in the wider picture of human character and history had not always been so perfect. We recall his murder of his loyal friend Uriah:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :4. Whilst David's lament is understandable, he shows himself out of step with the spirit of the Lord Jesus, who taught that we should love and do good to others without expecting "good" in return from them, and indeed accepting they may continue to do evil to us (<a href='B:490 6:33-34'>Luk 6:33-34</a>). But David has the natural expectation that those we do good to ought to be loyal to us in return, and certainly not hate us:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Set a wicked man over him, let an adversary stand at his right hand-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The plural slanderers and adversaries now become focused upon a singular person. Possibly David is personifying them all as one person. Or if a specific individual is in view, it perhaps was in the first context Shimei as he cursed David as he fled from Absalom. But verse 8 is quoted in the New Testament about Judas. This is not to say that everything about Shimei in this Psalm is true of Judas, indeed the bitter feelings of David as expressed here do not seem appropriate to the saving sorrow which the Lord felt for Judas.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The contrast is with how Yahweh stands at the right hand of the righteous (:31), i:e. as his guide. A satan at the right hand is a similar situation to the description of the court of Heaven which we meet in Zechariah 3. I suggest that all human situations on earth are reflected in the court of Heaven, and vice versa. David wished that an Angel adversarial to Shimei would be actively involved in his life, and that Angel [a righteous one] would be represented by the actions of a "wicked man" on earth leading Shimei [or Judas] to destruction. So perhaps it was a Satan-Angel that stood at Judas' right hand (i. e. to influence him), confirming him in the way he had chosen to go, as God hardened Pharaoh's already hard heart. The question is, who was this individual on earth in the life of Shimei, and perhaps also of Judas? Perhaps it was the High Priest in the case of Judas.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The book of Job is frequently alluded to by David (see on :24); it was likely about the only scripture he had access to apart from the Pentateuch. So it is unsurprising that he should apparently hold the same idea of a Satan-Angel, under God's control, which we find in Job. That Angel represented and was manifest through adversaries on earth, who may themselves have been evil. Perhaps David thought in terms of a wicked man on earth, controlled by the Satan-Angel in Heaven.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When he is judged, let him come forth guilty, let his prayer be turned into sin-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is clearly wishing for the person in view to be condemned at the last day, and for God to consider this person's prayers as sin. David seems totally lacking in any desire for repentance and salvation for his enemies, but rather wishes their absolute condemnation from God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let his days be few, let another take his office-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although quoted about Judas, the initial application would have been to the likes of Saul, Ahithophel and Shimei. And on :19 I will suggest Joab may also be in view. Their "office" would have respectively been as king, chief adviser and head of Saul's herdsmen, and in Joab's case, head of the army. In the application to Saul, David's desire to see "another take his office" would have been a request for himself to be made king after Saul, as he had been promised.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A quotation from <a href='B:20 22:24'>Exo 22:24</a>, of God's especial condemnation of those who abuse the stranger, the poor and weak. David feels he is in that situation whilst persecuted by Saul, often describing himself as a stranger and "poor and needy" (:16):&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>may his children be wandering beggars, let them be sought from their ruins-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the application to Saul, this would have included David's best friend Jonathan. He seems to have been far too quick in his wishing of the worst condemnation on his enemies. Perhaps he is using standard phrases of condemnation, without thinking of their implication. We can take a warning here; we can all use standard forms of cursing another, the implications of which we need to think through.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the creditor seize all that he has, let strangers plunder the fruit of his labour-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Mosaic law forbad the exercise of such usury (s:w. <a href='B:20 22:25'>Exo 22:25</a>). But what is envisaged is a man in debt to Gentiles ("strangers", paralleled with "the creditor"). As noted on :10, this is perhaps a standard curse which David is appropriating perhaps without undue thought as to the implications (see on :10).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let there be nobody to extend kindness to him, neither let there be anyone to have pity on his fatherless children-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is God who 'extends kindness', for the phrase is alone used of Him (<a href='B:230 36:10'>Psa 36:10</a>; <a href='B:300 31:3'>Jer 31:3</a>). David wishes this person to be outside the realm of God's grace; and we reflect why ever David felt the need to say this about anybody. Perhaps his grief over the deaths of Saul and Absalom was partly because he realized he had cursed them too deeply in prayers like thIsa.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let his posterity be cut off, in the next generation may their name be blotted out-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :10, David is not thinking of the implications of this with regards to Saul. David does all he can to ensure that the name of Saul and Jonathan was not blotted out, showing extraordinary grace to their descendants. Perhaps he did this aware that such prayers as this had been going far too far:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh, don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Blotted out" is the word David used when begging for his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah to be blotted out: "And blot out all of my iniquities" (<a href='B:230 51:9'>Psa 51:9</a>). We note with concern that in this Psalm written apparently after this time concerning the time of Absalom's rebellion, David asks that the sins of his enemies not be blotted out. Again we wonder as to whether David maintained an awareness of the enormity of God's grace to him.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them be before Yahweh continually, that He may cut off their memory from the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again we note that there is not a word of desire for the repentance and salvation of the person, but rather verse after verse expressing a desire for their eternal condemnation:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had seen himself as "poor and needy" and broken hearted, needing grace after his sin with Bathsheba and its consequences (<a href='B:230 40:17'>Psa 40:17</a>; <a href='B:230 70:5'>Psa 70:5</a>; <a href='B:230 86:1'>Psa 86:1</a>; <a href='B:230 109:16'>Psa 109:16</a>; <a href='B:230 109:22'>Psa 109:22</a>), and also during his persecution by Saul. We noted on :9 that David felt himself to be the "poor and needy" who had been abused by Saul. He wished Solomon to likewise have pity on the "poor and needy" amongst the Gentiles, those who had likewise repented (<a href='B:230 72:13'>Psa 72:13</a>). And David was especially desirous to himself see the "poor and needy" blessed and accepted as he had been (<a href='B:230 82:3-4'>Psa 82:3-4</a>; <a href='B:230 113:7'>Psa 113:7</a>). It is our personal experience of needing grace which leads us to have a heart for those like us, the poor and needy. Any other motivation will ultimately not abide. Solomon appears to glorify his mother Bathsheba for likewise pitying the poor and needy (<a href='B:240 31:9'>Pro 31:9</a>; <a href='B:240 31:20'>Pro 31:20</a>). But we have to note that David had received grace when he was broken and needy, as a result of his sin with Bathsheba. But he doesn't want to reflect that to this adversary, who had likely been raised up by God (at least in the application to Ahithophel, Shimei and Absalom) as a consequence for his sin. We note too that Nathan had likened Uriah to a "poor man" abused by David (<a href='B:100 12:1'>2Sa 12:1</a>). But David here asks God to eternally condemn those who persecuted the "poor" (see on <a href='B:230 109:9'>Psa 109:9</a>; <a href='B:230 109:16'>Psa 109:16</a>). And it seems Psalms 109 was used by David not only about his persecution at the time of Saul, but also of his sufferings at the time of Absalom's rebellion, after the time of his sin. So it seems David didn't maintain his sense of humility before Nathan.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and so it was far from him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This points towards Shimei, whose cursing of David at the time of Absalom's rebellion clearly hurt David very deeply. At the time, David forgave him. But he didn't maintain that intensity of forgiveness, because on his deathbed he asks Solomon to ensure Shimei even as an old man is slain because of it. His statement here that the cursing "came to him" may be a 'future perfect', stating the future as if it has already happened, as a way of stating intention. And David expressed this intention to Solomon to ensure Shimei was cursed with death for his cursing. We too struggle to maintain levels of forgiveness we grant to people, and we perceive how God's "frank" and permanent forgiveness (<a href='B:490 7:42'>Luk 7:42</a>) is of an altogether higher quality and nature than our forgiveness.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment; it came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :17, David graciously overlooked Shimei's cursing, promising him that he would not die because of it (<a href='B:100 16:10-11'>2Sa 16:10-11</a>; <a href='B:100 19:23'>2Sa 19:23</a>). But he didn't keep up that level of grace to the end: he later asked Solomon to ensure that Shimei&nbsp; was killed for that incident (<a href='B:110 2:8-9'>1Ki 2:8-9</a>). And one wonders whether it was Shimei’s words which so broke David’s heart that he later wrote these words.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, like the belt that is always around him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Whoever the individual is in view, he was known for always wearing the same belt. The only person in David's life whose belt is noted is Joab (<a href='B:100 20:8'>2Sa 20:8</a>; <a href='B:110 2:5'>1Ki 2:5</a>). See on :8. Perhaps this Psalm began with reference to Saul, but was reapplied to Ahithophel, Absalom, Shimei and then finally to Joab when Joab rose up against David. In the previous verses, David has himself wished cursing upon this person, but now he appears to try to justify it by saying that the person who has cursed him will simply receive his own curses.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the reward of my adversaries from Yahweh, of those who speak evil against my soul-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had himself spoken evil against innocent people (s:w. <a href='B:90 25:17'>1Sa 25:17</a>). But David was so sensitive to words spoken against him that he breathes out the deepest condemnation upon those who had spoken them. Again we get the impression that David is not adequately aware of the huge grace he himself had received. Otherwise there would have been at least some desire for the repentance and salvation of his enemies. This is so markedly lacking in the Psalms of David. See on :21.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But deal with me, Yahweh the Lord, for Your name’s sake; because Your grace is good, deliver me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :20, David appears totally lacking in any grace toward his enemies; but he here and in :26 begs for grace to be shown to him, aware at least subconsciously of his own desperate need for deliverance / salvation by grace. He rightly perceives God's Name to be essentially "grace". The Name of Yahweh is essentially His characteristics (<a href='B:20 34:5-7'>Exo 34:5-7</a>), and they are epitomized in "grace".</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :16, where David appeals to God's anger with those who abuse the "poor and needy" to condemn any who had not had pity upon him. He is acting just like Saul whom he condemns here, for he too breathed curses upon any who didn't feel sorry for him (<a href='B:90 22:8'>1Sa 22:8</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I fade away like an evening shadow, I am shaken off like a locust-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's feelings at this time are also appropriate to Hezekiah, whose feelings were responded to by God by making the shadow of the sundial reverse. The same words are used in <a href='B:120 20:10'>2Ki 20:10</a>. The locust was an unclean animal, and this is how David felt.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My knees are weak through fasting, my body is thin and lacks fat-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here again is another indication that David has the book of Job in mind, for this is how Job describes himself. See on :6,25.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have also become a reproach to them; when they see me, they shake their head-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again the allusions to Job continue (see on :6,24); this time to <a href='B:220 16:4'>Job 16:4</a>; <a href='B:220 19:5'>Job 19:5</a>; <a href='B:220 20:3'>Job 20:3</a>. The situation here seems more appropriate at this point to the plans of Absalom, Ahithophel, Shimei and Joab. For Saul rarely "saw" David at the time of his persecution of him. </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Help me, Yahweh, my God. Save me according to Your grace-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :20, David appears totally lacking in any grace toward his enemies; but he here and in :21 begs for grace to be shown to him, aware at least subconsciously of his own desperate need for deliverance / salvation by grace.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that they may know that this is Your hand; that You, Yahweh, have done it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although David seeks for personal salvation by grace (:26), his motivation for that salvation was still not totally pure. For here he states that he wants that salvation in order to demonstrate that his sufferings were the result of God's hand rather than his own sins. Even though his sufferings at the hands of the likes of Joab, Ahithophel and Shimei were all the consequence of his own sins. But he so struggled with a sense of wrongful shame, when he ought to have finally accepted that his shame was a consequence of his sins regarding Uriah and Bathsheba.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They may curse, but You bless. When they arise, they will be shamed, but Your servant shall rejoice-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Frequently the rejected are threatened with both shame and anger / gnashing of teeth; shame and anger are going to be connected in that awful experience. They will "curse [in anger]::. and be ashamed". The final shame of the rejected is going to be so great that "they shall be greatly ashamed::. their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten" (<a href='B:300 20:11'>Jer 20:11</a>). Seeing they will be long dead and gone, it is us, the accepted, who by God's grace will recall the terrible shame of the rejected throughout our eternity. "When they arise" would be a reference to resurrection. David clearly expected a future day of resurrection and judgment, when shame, cursing and blessing would all be ultimately and eternally articulated.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonour, may they cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although David has wished condemnation upon his enemies, he likes to imagine that actually their condemnation and shame is a direct result of their own actions in this life. And this is true enough. They had clothed themselves with cursing in this life (:18), as Shimei had; and David sees this as related to their clothing themselves with shame at the last day (:28). And yet David seems remarkably uncritical of himself; for he himself is clothing himself with cursing against his enemies in this Psalm. And what if he were wrong? What if the likes of Joab are to be finally saved:::?</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will give great thanks to Yahweh with my mouth, truly I will praise Him among the multitude-</p><h2>This is the same idea as often in the Psalms; David imagines himself surrounded by the "multitude" of the righteous, praising God at the last day (:28 "when they arise"), when the wicked are destroyed and he is finally justified (<a href='B:230 22:22'>Psa 22:22</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:10'>Psa 40:10</a>). We too can look forward to eternal salvation not simply on a personal level; but seeing our eternal place amongst the true people of God.</h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For He will stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :6. David rightly perceives that there is a higher hand in human life, someone or something standing at our right hand. And he wishes this to be God's influence toward condemnation for his enemies, and God's influence toward salvation in his own case. This is the difference between the evil spirit from the Lord, and the Holy Spirit.</p><h2></h2>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Psalm of David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is a tendency amongst some personality types to turn every disagreement over interpretation of Scripture into a right : wrong, truth : error scenario. Matters relating to basic doctrine are capable of being dealt with like thIsa. But to turn the interpretation of every Bible verse into a conflict area is a recipe for ecclesial disaster. So often the debate becomes personal, with a brother sure that he is right and the other wrong, and the other must be shown to be wrong. This leads inevitably to pride, and there is the possibility that the other party is degraded and feels abused by the other. We simply have to accept that much of Scripture is open to various levels of interpretation, which if placed side by side would appear to be contradictory. Consider, for example, how many different applications the NT gives to Psalms 2, 110. Psalms 110 is quoted or alluded to multiple times; to prove the Lord Jesus is greater than David (<a href='B:490 20:41-44'>Luk 20:41-44</a>), in heaven at God's right hand (<a href='B:480 12:36'>Mar 12:36</a>; <a href='B:480 14:62'>Mar 14:62</a>), waiting until all enemies are put under His feet at His return (<a href='B:530 15:25'>1Co 15:25</a>), yet also applied to His ascension and exaltation (<a href='B:510 2:34-36'>Act 2:34-36</a>); it is used to prove the priesthood of the Lord Jesus, like that of the Levites, involved a call by God (<a href='B:650 5:1-6'>Heb 5:1-6</a>); to prove the eternity of His priesthood (<a href='B:650 6:20'>Heb 6:20</a>); and throughout Hebrews 7 to prove that the priesthood of the Lord Jesus was greater than that of the Levites.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh says to my Lord, Sit at My right hand-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Biblically and historically, David’s immediate ‘Lord’ was Saul, but it could also have reference to Solomon and even to himself. Psalms 72 is a similar Psalm, imagining Solomon as the promised Messiah with a Messianic Kingdom. So Psalms 110 was originally a revelation to David of the potential possible for Solomon or Saul, who was an anointed ‘Messiah’ figure, expressed as a coronation ode. But Solomon and Saul failed, and so the fulfillment of the prophecy was rescheduled and reapplied to the Lord Jesus. And so the Lord Jesus uses this passages about Himself in <a href='B:490 20:40-44'>Luk 20:40-44</a>: "David therefore calls him Lord, so, how is he his son?". Judaism’s concept of Messiah has always been vague and not commonly agreed, but there was and is the idea that the likes of Abraham, Moses and David are greater than Messiah. The Lord Jesus is pointing out that David considered Messiah to be his “Lord”, just as Messiah was greater than Abraham (<a href='B:500 8:58'>Joh 8:58</a>). The “how” doesn’t imply that David’s Lord is not his son, but rather is a rhetorical question. How is the Messianic son of David, David’s “Lord”, to be his son or descendant? <a href='B:480 12:37'>Mar 12:37</a> says the Lord reinforced the question by asking “From whence&nbsp;is He his son?”. The answer had to be: ‘Through a woman in David’s direct line giving birth to Him’. And the questioners were fully aware that Jesus was in the direct line of David through Mary.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It seems that David became obsessed with the idea of Solomon being the Messiah, building a physical house for God, and being king over the eternal Messianic Kingdom. The words of <a href='B:230 110:1'>Psa 110:1</a> are applied by the NT to Jesus, but there is no reason to think that they were not primarily spoke by David with his eye on Solomon, whom he addresses as his Lord, such was his obsession: “The Lord saith unto my Lord</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>” (RV), and the rest of the Psalm goes on in the language of Psalms 72 to describe David’s hopes for Solomon’s Kingdom. ‘Solomon’ was actually called ‘Jedidiah’ by God through Nathan (<a href='B:100 12:25'>2Sa 12:25</a>). The ‘beloved of God’ was surely prophetic of God’s beloved Son. When God said “This is my beloved Son”, He was surely saying ‘Now this is the Jedidiah, whom I wanted Solomon to typify’. But David calls him Solomon, the man who would bring peace. I suggest that David was so eager to see in Solomon the actual Messiah, that he chose not to use the name which God wanted- which made Solomon a type of a future Son of God / Messiah. And this led to Solomon himself being obsessed with being a Messiah figure and losing sight of the future Messiah.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When he writes in Psalms 110 of how Yahweh said unto my Lord</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>he is quoting the very phrase used by Abigail years before, when they weren’t even married (<a href='B:90 25:30'>1Sa 25:30</a>). He was unconsciously alluding to the words of his wife before they were married, even years later. It is of course true that context plays a vital part in Biblical interpretation. But this can lead us to overlook the fact that many New Testament quotations of the Old Testament- many of those in the early chapters of Matthew, for example- are picking up words and phrases from one context and applying them to another.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Lord’s enemies stood around Him as He applied this Psalm to Himself. And yet being at the footstool of the Lord doesn't have to mean being dominated by Him in judgment. It can refer to the great paradox whereby the Lord's enemies become His loyalest and most humble citizens, at His feet in submission, and thereby also at the Father's right hand of acceptance.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is quoted in <a href='B:530 15:25'>1Co 15:25</a> "For he must reign until He has put all his enemies under his feet". Having things and persons 'under the feet' doesn't necessarily mean they were to be killed or destroyed. It can mean simply submission before the one enthroned. "All things", a phrase often used for all God's people, are to be placed under the feet of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:230 8:6'>Psa 8:6</a>; <a href='B:560 1:22'>Eph 1:22</a>; <a href='B:650 2:8'>Heb 2:8</a>, which teach that it is the church who shall be under the Lord's feet. <a href='B:730 12:8'>Rev 12:8</a> may teach the same). I noted on <a href='B:470 22:44'>Mat 22:44</a> and <a href='B:510 2:35'>Act 2:35</a> that the making of the Lord's enemies His footstool means that they shall repentantly accept Him, rather than being destroyed by Him. "We were enemies" of God, but are now reconciled in grateful, humble submission (<a href='B:520 5:10'>Rom 5:10</a>). This is the whole message of the preceding :24- that all things shall progressively be subjected under Christ's authority and Kingship, thereby becoming part of His Kingdom. To achieve this on a universal level, He shall have to come to earth and destroy those who refuse to submit. But the end in view is that the earth and all upon it shall be His Kingdom, under the dominion of His Kingship. And that process is to begin in the hearts of believers right now.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is also quoted in <a href='B:510 2:35'>Act 2:35</a>. The context is Peter's appeal for those who crucified the Lord to repent. They were His "enemies"; but once they became a footstool for His feet, then He would return. Therefore Peter appealed for their repentance, apparently understanding being 'a footstool for His feet' as meaning they would put themselves at His feet in obeisance. The Lord's footstool is the place where His worshippers come (<a href='B:230 99:5'>Psa 99:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:7'>Psa 132:7</a>; <a href='B:290 66:1-3'>Isa 66:1-3</a>). The Father was willing to "make" His Son's enemies, those responsible for His death, into His worshippers. But they had to do their part, in repentance and acceptance of the activity of His Holy Spirit. <a href='B:650 10:13'>Heb 10:13</a> adds the detail that the Lord Jesus is eagerly looking for [AV "expecting"] His former enemies to become His footstool- and then He will return. This is why witness to Jewish people is so deeply significant in God's program. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh will send forth the rod of your strength out of Zion-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This perhaps alludes to Hannah's words of <a href='B:90 2:10'>1Sa 2:10</a>, where she expected that Samuel would be both a ruler and a priest, although he was not strictly a Levite: "He will give strength to His king and exalt the horn of His anointed". This all sets the scene for this new leader being presented as a king and non-Levitical priest (:4).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Rule in the midst of your enemies!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the scenario of <a href='B:230 2:6'>Psa 2:6</a>; <a href='B:230 2:9'>Psa 2:9</a>. Zion, the temple mount, was also to be the place of rulership. This sets up the expectation for a merger between king and priest, which comes to term in the declaration in :4 that this ruler would be after the order of Melchizedek, a king-priest. The language of ruling in the midst of enemies is that used of Solomon (s:w. <a href='B:110 4:24'>1Ki 4:24</a>; <a href='B:230 72:8'>Psa 72:8</a>), which was the characteristic of Messiah (<a href='B:40 24:19'>Num 24:19</a>). The "rod" suggests judgment (<a href='B:290 10:24'>Isa 10:24</a>; <a href='B:290 10:26'>Isa 10:26</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy attire-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>People offering themselves willingly is the language of soldiers eager for battle in <a href='B:70 5:2'>Jdg 5:2</a>; <a href='B:70 5:9'>Jdg 5:9</a>. But these willing soldiers are "in holy attire", they are priests. This again sets up the expectation that the leader as well as his followers are soldier-priests, priests who also have another function- as soldiers, in this case. See on :2,4.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David imagines Solomon as being reborn as he is enthroned as the Messianic king. The dew of youth would refer to the waters of birth which come from the womb, also seen in a figurative sense at the dawn of this new Messianic morning.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh has sworn, and will not change His mind: You are a priest forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There was no 'change of the Divine mind' in the fact that Solomon didn't live up to his Messianic potential, as discussed throughout Psalms 72. The oath that would not be changed was made ultimately to the Lord Jesus. Here in Psalms 110, the coronation ode declares the king to be not only king, but also an eternal priest.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is quoted in <a href='B:650 5:6'>Heb 5:6</a> "As also He said elsewhere: You are a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek". This spoken word of inauguration and appointment was likewise uttered in the "day" when the Lord was "begotten" in resurrection (<a href='B:650 5:5'>Heb 5:5</a>). There is no evidence here for any personally pre-existent Christ. The Hebrew writer alludes to and subverts the defiant language of the Maccabees in repeatedly describing Christ as "priest for ever" (<a href='B:650 5:6'>Heb 5:6</a>; <a href='B:650 6:20'>Heb 6:20</a>; <a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a>; <a href='B:650 7:17'>Heb 7:17</a>; <a href='B:650 7:21'>Heb 7:21</a>)- when this was the term applied to Simon Maccabaeus in 1Ma_14:41. See on <a href='B:490 20:25'>Luk 20:25</a>. The nature of the priesthood was to be eternal; so although there were similarities with the Aaronic priests, the priesthood of Messiah was not identical with it. It was after the order of Melchizedek.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sin brings death, so the eternal priest appointed by the word of God's oath in <a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a> had to be not only eternal but also sinless. There could therefore be no other candidate for this priest than the Lord Jesus.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the order of Melchizedek-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Lord Jesus is a King-priest after the order of Melchizedek (<a href='B:650 6:13-18'>Heb 6:13-18</a>; <a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a>); and through being in Him, we share this position. Through what He achieved for us on the cross, we have been made now king-priests, with the future hope of reigning on earth (<a href='B:730 1:6'>Rev 1:6</a>; <a href='B:730 5:10'>Rev 5:10</a>):&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hebrews 7 interprets this statement at great length; I have discussed it in more detail on Hebrews 7, but here is a reduced version:</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:1'>Heb 7:1</a> For this Melchizedek, king of Jerusalem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him- There is no hint that Abraham and Melchizedek were personally acquainted before this meeting, although they both were servants of the true God. We might wonder why God didn't connect them earlier. In His wisdom He doesn't always force believers to regularly fellowship with each other, indeed He made Abraham travel all around Canaan rather than telling him to settle near Melchizedek and form some kind of ecclesia or community of believers. And clearly the implication is that Abraham maintained a legitimate relationship with God without needing to use a human priest, even one as good and exalted as Melchizedek. For more on Melchizedek, see on 5:10.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:2'>Heb 7:2</a> To whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all. He was first, by interpretation, King of righteousness, and then also, King of Jerusalem, which is, King of peace- "King of righteousness" connects with Paul's appeal for the Hebrews to accept the word or Gospel of imputed righteousness in Christ; see on <a href='B:650 5:13'>Heb 5:13</a>, remembering that here in chapter 7 Paul is picking up from <a href='B:650 5:13'>Heb 5:13</a> after the parenthesis of chapter 6. The connection between righteousness and peace is a feature of Messiah- in Him, they kiss each other (<a href='B:230 85:10'>Psa 85:10</a>), and are the mainstay of the Messianic Kingdom on earth (<a href='B:230 72:3'>Psa 72:3</a>; <a href='B:290 32:17'>Isa 32:17</a>; <a href='B:520 14:17'>Rom 14:17</a>). Righteousness is emphasized before peace- "then also::. king of peace". "The work of righteousness shall be peace" (<a href='B:290 32:17'>Isa 32:17</a>). But in Paul's theology, it is the righteousness of King Jesus which is imputed to us and thereby creates peace with God. This is the much laboured message of Romans 1-8. So we can understand his enthusiastic perception that Melchizedek, a type of Messiah, was king of righteousness "and then also::. king of peace".</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a> He was without recorded father or mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but presented as being like the Son of God, abiding a priest continually- Without doubt God frames the Biblical record in order to highlight certain facts. Thus there is a marked lack of information concerning the father and mother of Melchizedek in GenesIsa. God is providing us with an interpretation of how He worded the account in Genesis, making the point that Melchizedek typified Christ. But although we are not to read <a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a> at face value, there is no explicit indication to this effect. The objection that the New Testament does not warn us against reading the ‘casting out of demons’ language literally is therefore not valid. <a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a> is one of many examples of where it is imperative to understand the way in which God is using language if we are to correctly understand His word, but there is no explicit warning about this in <a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a>!</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Jesus has a Father (God) and a mother (Mary) and a genealogy (see Matthew 1, Luke 3 and cp. <a href='B:500 7:27'>Joh 7:27</a>). ‘Melchizedek’ therefore cannot refer to Him personally. Besides, Melchizedek was “made like unto the Son of God” (<a href='B:650 7:3'>Heb 7:3</a>); he was not Jesus himself, but had certain similarities with Him which are being used by the writer for teaching purposes. “After the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another priest”, Jesus (<a href='B:650 7:15'>Heb 7:15</a>), who was ordained a priest “after the order of Melchizedek” (<a href='B:650 5:5-6'>Heb 5:5-6</a>). The language of Hebrews about Melchizedek just cannot be taken literally. If Melchizedek literally had no father or mother, then the only person he could have been was God Himself; He is the only person with no beginning (<a href='B:610 6:16'>1Ti 6:16</a>; <a href='B:230 90:2'>Psa 90:2</a>). But this is vetoed by <a href='B:650 7:4'>Heb 7:4</a>: “Consider how great this man was”, and also by the fact that he was seen by men (which God cannot be) and offered sacrifices to God. If he is called a man, then he must have had literal parents. His being “without father, without mother, without descent” must therefore refer to the fact that his pedigree and parents are not recorded. Queen Esther’s parents are not recorded, and so her background is described in a similar way. Mordecai “brought up::. Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother::. whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter” (<a href='B:190 2:7'>Est 2:7</a>). The author of Hebrews was clearly writing as a Jew to Jews, and as such he uses the Rabbinic way of reasoning and writing at times. There was a Rabbinic principle that "what is not in the text, is not" (See James Dunn, Christology In The Making (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1980) p. 276 note 59)- and it seems that this is the principle of exposition being used to arrive at the statement that Melchizedek was "without father". Seeing no father is mentioned in the Genesis text, therefore he was "without father"- but this doesn't mean he actually didn't have a father. It's not recorded, and therefore, according to that Rabbinic principle, he effectively didn't have one.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The book of Genesis usually goes to great lengths to introduce the family backgrounds of all the characters which it presents to us. But Melchizedek appears on the scene unannounced, with no record of his parents, and vanishes from the account with equal abruptness. Yet there can be no doubt that he was worthy of very great respect; even great Abraham paid tithes to him, and was blessed by him, clearly showing Melchizedek’s superiority over Abraham (<a href='B:650 7:2'>Heb 7:2</a>; <a href='B:650 7:7'>Heb 7:7</a>). The writer is not just doing mental gymnastics with Scripture. There was a very real problem in the first century which the Melchizedek argument could solve. The Jews were reasoning: ‘You Christians tell us that this Jesus can now be our high priest, offering our prayers and works to God. But a priest has to have a known genealogy, proving he is from the tribe of Levi. And anyway, you yourselves admit Jesus was from the tribe of Judah (<a href='B:650 7:14'>Heb 7:14</a>). Sorry, to us Abraham is our supreme leader and example (<a href='B:500 8:33'>Joh 8:33</a>; <a href='B:500 8:39'>Joh 8:39</a>), and we won’t respect this Jesus’. To which the reply is: ‘But remember Melchizedek. The Genesis record is framed to show that such a great priest did not have any genealogy; and Messiah is to be both a king and a priest, whose priesthood is after the pattern of Melchizedek (<a href='B:650 5:6'>Heb 5:6</a> cp. <a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a>). Abraham was inferior to Melchizedek, so you should switch your emphasis from Abraham to Jesus, and stop trying to make the question of genealogies so important (see <a href='B:610 1:4'>1Ti 1:4</a>). If you meditate on how much Melchizedek is a type of Jesus (i:e. the details of his life pointed forward to him), then you would have a greater understanding of the work of Christ’:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:4'>Heb 7:4</a> Now consider how great this man was, to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the spoils- Melchizedek was a man, not a pre-existent God. The argument is that tithes are given to someone greater. Hence Jacob offers to give tithes to his father's God if He will preserve him (<a href='B:10 28:22'>Gen 28:22</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:5'>Heb 7:5</a> And they indeed of the sons of Levi that receive the priest's office-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Paul doesn't call them Aaronites because he wants to make the point that the tribal head, Levi, was not the ancestor of Melchizedek; and as one of the patriarchs, he as it were paid tithes in Abraham to Melchizedek.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Have the commandment according to the law to take tithes from the people, that is, of their brothers; even though they are also descendants of Abraham- Levi's sons could take tithes of their brothers, but this did not make them 'greater' than their brothers. They were 'brothers' on the same level as those who tithed to them. But payment of tithes to an unrelated person was a more impressive evidence of the greatness of that person over the tithe payers.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:6'>Heb 7:6</a> Melchizedek was not descended from Levi by genealogy-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> There is no evidence that he was even from within the Abraham family; he was effectively a Gentile, the king-priest of Jerusalem. But the fact he was not a Levite is emphasized because this was a reason some were giving for not accepting the priesthood of the Lord Jesus.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But he took tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had received the promises- The blessing was given from Melchizedek to Abraham in response to tithes. Yet Abraham is the one who was to be a blessing in the land, according to "the promises" received. But actually, the blesser had himself first to be blessed. This definitely places Melchizedek on the level of manifesting God to Abraham.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:7'>Heb 7:7</a> But without any dispute the less is blessed of the better- To suggest anyone was "better" than Abraham was radical for Hebrews, who considered Abraham the father of their race. And to rub the point in by saying that he was "less" was to suggest that the entire metanarrative of descent from Abraham being so important was being overwritten- and had in fact been overwritten by any sensitive to the brief details given about Melchizedek. That the ministry of the Lord Jesus was "better" than that of the Mosaic law is stressed in Hebrews (1:4; 7:19,22; 8:6; 9:23; 12:24).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:8'>Heb 7:8</a> And here mortal men receive tithes; but there one received them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives- The argument here might appear somewhat forced, but it was all legitimate within the style of Rabbinic midrash. Melchizedek "lives" in that there is no record of his death; we noted on :3 the Rabbinic principle that "what is not in the text, is not". And Paul goes on to reason that the priesthood of Melchizedek continues still, in that Messiah was to have this priesthood eternally. "That he lives" can also be understood as meaning that Melchizedek had a lifelong priesthood, that was not replaced by others because he had reached a certain age. McKnight observes that the Greek verb zē? here is not in the present, but the imperfect of the indicative, and he translates "that he lives" as " lived, a priest all his life, in contradistinction from those who ceased to be priests at a certain age".</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:9'>Heb 7:9</a> And, so to say, when Abraham paid the tithe, Levi, whose descendants receive the tithe, also paid a tithe- Abraham is seen as representing his descendant Levi. The Levitical priests did indeed pay a tithe of their tithes- to God. But Paul argues here that Levi, in Abraham, paid a tithe to Melchizedek, thus making him a manifestation of God.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:10'>Heb 7:10</a> For Levi was yet in the loins of his ancestor Abraham when Melchizedek met Abraham- This kind of argument may appear forced, but it was quite legitimate within the milieu of Jewish midrash.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:11'>Heb 7:11</a> Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be reckoned after the order of Aaron?- The argument is that the whole mention of Messiah having a priesthood after the order of Melchizedek would have been unnecessary if the Levitical priesthood and legal system could bring "perfection". Paul forces through the logic of his position by reasoning that the "need" for the Melchizedek priesthood meant that this new priest must actually not be "after the order of Aaron" and therefore must not be a descendant of Aaron. I have previously noted that this kind of apparently forced argumentation would have been acceptable to those used to this kind of reasoning in the rabbinical interpretations of the Old Testament. But it is all the same logically forced, although from our Christian perspective it all makes good sense. I suggested on expounding Paul's obsession with the Jerusalem Poor Fund in 2 Corinthians that he had an obsessive streak within him, whereby he marshaled all possible evidence to support his positions and at points his logic and reasoning bears the hallmark of the obsessive. It could well be that we have a case of that here.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:12'>Heb 7:12</a> For the priesthood being changed requires also a change of the law- This verse is a stubborn problem for those who consider that the Mosaic law has not been changed nor abrogated. The reasoning here is logically sound, but it depends upon the assumption that the Melchizedek priest has in fact come; and only in that case could it be reasoned that the priesthood had been changed from the Aaronic to that of Melchizedek, this requiring a change of the law. The argument only had [and has] force for those who accept Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. It is therefore highly relevant to the Hebrew Christian audience but would lack logical power with Hebrew non-Christians.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The whole Law of Moses is described as an everlasting covenant (<a href='B:290 24:5'>Isa 24:5</a>; <a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a>), but it has now been done away (<a href='B:650 8:13'>Heb 8:13</a>). The feasts of Passover and Atonement were to be “an everlasting statute unto you” (<a href='B:30 16:34'>Lev 16:34</a>; <a href='B:20 12:14'>Exo 12:14</a>); but now the Mosaic feasts have been done away in Christ (<a href='B:580 2:14-17'>Col 2:14-17</a>; <a href='B:530 5:7'>1Co 5:7</a>). The Levitical priesthood was “the covenant of an everlasting priesthood” (<a href='B:20 40:15'>Exo 40:15</a>; <a href='B:40 25:13'>Num 25:13</a>), but “the priesthood being changed (by Christ’s work), there is made of necessity a change also of the law” (<a href='B:650 7:12'>Heb 7:12</a>). There was an “everlasting covenant” between God and Israel to display the shewbread in the Holy Place (<a href='B:30 24:8'>Lev 24:8</a>). This “everlasting covenant” evidently ended when the Mosaic Law was dismantled. But the same phrase “everlasting covenant” is used in <a href='B:100 23:5'>2Sa 23:5</a> concerning how Christ will reign on David’s throne for literal eternity in the Kingdom. In what sense, then, is God using the word olahm, which is translated “eternal”, “perpetual”, “everlasting” in the Old Testament? James Strong defines olahm as literally meaning “the finishing point, time out of mind, i:e. practically eternity”. It was God’s purpose that the Law of Moses and the associated Sabbath law were to continue for many centuries. To the early Israelite, this meant a finishing point so far ahead that he couldn’t grapple with it; therefore he was told that the Law would last for ever in the sense of “practically eternity”. For all of us, the specter of ultimate infinity is impossible to intellectually grapple with. We may glibly talk about God’s eternity and timelessness, about the wonder of eternal life. But when we pause to really come to terms with these things, we lack the intellectual tools and linguistic paradigms to cope with it. Therefore there is no Hebrew or Greek word used in the Bible text to speak of absolute infinity. We know that death has been conquered for those in Christ, therefore we have the hope of immortal life in his Kingdom. But God speaks about eternity very much from a human viewpoint.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:13'>Heb 7:13</a> For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar- The "He" refers to the Melchizedek priest who was to be Messiah. "Has ever" makes the point that a new priesthood is now in view. The Lord Jesus serves at the altar; this is the altar at which the Levitical priests have no right to eat / fellowship, but we Christians do (<a href='B:650 13:10'>Heb 13:10</a>), suggesting that we in Christ are likewise there, serving at and eating at the heavenly altar which features so strongly in Revelation, as part of the Heavenly sanctuary which the tabernacle was a dim reflection of. The Lord Jesus is actively 'serving' there; He is not passive in Heaven, just waiting to return to earth.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:14'>Heb 7:14</a> For it is evident that our Lord originated from the tribe of Judah. Regarding this tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood- The Lord being descended from Judah was "evident" or obvious- presumably from the genealogies which connected Mary to the tribe of Judah. But again as noted on <a href='B:650 7:11'>Heb 7:11</a>, Paul's enthusiasm seems to be carrying him away, for it was far from obvious that Jesus of Nazareth was from Judah. However he may have meant instead that Messiah had to come from Judah; this much was indeed "evident" from the Old Testament and undisputed.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:15'>Heb 7:15</a> And what we say is even more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest- The abundantly obvious argument was that the Melchizedek priest had to be eternal (see <a href='B:650 7:16-17'>Heb 7:16-17</a>); and the only candidate was Jesus, whom Christians believed had been resurrected and given eternal life. He was the only person who had then been immortalized. But this argument again was logically powerful only to a Hebrew Christian, and not to a Hebrew non-Christian. The 'arising' of this 'other priest' may be a hint at His resurrection to immortality.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:16'>Heb 7:16</a> Who has been appointed, not on the basis of a law about physical descent, but according to the power of an endless life- The Levitical priests became priests by reason of their age and descent, whereas the Melchizedek Messiah priest had to be "appointed". The basis of the Lord's appointment was His immortality- because the priest had to have an eternal ministry, so it was necessary that he was immortal. And the only immortalized human was Jesus of Nazareth.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:17'>Heb 7:17</a> For it is witnessed: You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek- "For ever" is being interpreted as meaning that the priest would be immortal, making the resurrected, immortalized Jesus the only possible candidate. The 'witnessing' by God in <a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a> is understood as the priest being "appointed" (<a href='B:650 7:16'>Heb 7:16</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:18'>Heb 7:18</a> On the other hand, there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness- This new priesthood required a new law; a changed priesthood meant a changed law (<a href='B:650 7:12'>Heb 7:12</a>). And this required an "annulling" of that law, and that was because it was weak and unprofitable. Such language appears to deprecate the law, although Paul elsewhere says that the law was "holy, just and good" (<a href='B:520 7:12'>Rom 7:12</a>); it was weak and not profitable because it was unable to bring salvation or perfection to those under it. The strong language used here about the law of Moses must be given its full weight by those who argue that it should still be kept today.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:19'>Heb 7:19</a> (For the law made nothing perfect)<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Likewise <a href='B:650 7:11'>Heb 7:11</a> has argued that the Levitical priesthood had to be changed because it could not bring "perfection". The law convicted men of sin and offered some mechanism of patching up the broken relationship caused by it. But it did not enable moral perfection. By being in Christ, we can be counted as Him, the only perfect human. Faith in Christ could therefore make perfect in that the Lord Jesus was 'made perfect' by His sufferings, particularly on the cross (<a href='B:650 5:7-9'>Heb 5:7-9</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, through which we draw near to God- By being counted as in Christ, having His perfection as ours due to our status in Him, we have the sure hope of future salvation. The elpis or hope in view is a solid expectation regarding the future, not a mere hoping for the best. And it is by having this hope that we find strength against materialism and "draw near to God". The Hebrew readership would have understood this as meaning 'drawing near in priestly service' (cp. <a href='B:20 19:22'>Exo 19:22</a>). The Hope we have compels us to God's service:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:20'>Heb 7:20</a> And the Melchizedek priesthood was not without the taking of an oath- The oath taken was by God (<a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a>), vowing by Himself to honour the eternally powerful priesthood of Messiah. Such Divine underwriting was not given to the Levitical priesthood.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:21'>Heb 7:21</a> The Levitical priests were made priests without an oath, but he with an oath: The Lord swore and will not change His mind; you are a priest for ever- The eternal nature of the Lord's Melchizedek priesthood is at the basis of the certainty of our hope for future salvation (<a href='B:650 7:19'>Heb 7:19</a>). God Almighty guarantees that the Lord Jesus will be our eternal priest. Our standing before Him is therefore eternal; we have such a priest who is not simply a mediator between God and men, a conduit allowing us to offer to Him and approach Him, but a priest who on His own agenda eternally secures our salvation:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:22'>Heb 7:22</a> By this also has Jesus become the surety of a better covenant- The sure hope of <a href='B:650 7:19'>Heb 7:19</a> is underpinned by the way the Lord is the surety or guarantor of the better covenant. The Greek for "surety" occurs only here in the NT and LXX. The idea is of a guarantor who promises his self sacrifice in the case that the party to the covenant is unfaithful. It literally means 'the pledge of a limb'. The "surety" could offer his own limbs, or himself into bondage as a slave, if the person being guaranteed somehow failed. The Lord's death confirmed God's promises as being for real. But did God's side of the covenant need such a surety? Perhaps we are better to think of the Lord's being a surety as being a guarantee for our faithfulness to the covenant. But we have not been faithful to it; and so He died, gave His all, His limbs, and became the preeminent servant of Yahweh on the cross. This was to the end that the new covenant between God and us might still stand, despite our infraction of it.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:23'>Heb 7:23</a> And they indeed have been made priests many in number, because that by death they are hindered from continuing- The eternal priesthood required for the Messianic Melchizedek priest could not be attained by mortal priests.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:650 7:24'>Heb 7:24</a> But he, because he abides for ever, has his priesthood unchangeable- The eternal priesthood of the Melchizedek priest meant that His priesthood can never be changed. He has obtained eternal redemption for us, and that can never be liable to any renegotiation. Our hope for eternity is therefore sure (<a href='B:650 7:19'>Heb 7:19</a>) because the One who obtained it is immortal, and His work for us is in this sense eternal.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Lord is at your right hand-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Lord now sits at the Father’s right hand. But Psalms 110 describes God as being at Christ’s right hand. The confusion of the idioms surely demonstrates the mutuality between them. And the relationship between Father and Son is openly offered to us in John 17.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will crush kings-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the word used of the crushing of the kings in the eretz promised to Abraham which will happen at the hands of Messiah in the last day (<a href='B:40 24:8'>Num 24:8</a>; <a href='B:40 24:17'>Num 24:17</a>; <a href='B:50 33:11'>Deu 33:11</a>). I noted on :3 the allusions to the destruction of the nations within the eretz at the tie of Deborah and Barak. And in line with that, we find the same word for "crush" used in <a href='B:70 5:26'>Jdg 5:26</a> of how Jael crushed or pierced the head of Sisera. Hence :6 uses the same word of how the heads of all Yahweh's enemies would likewise be pierced or crushed. This was what Yahweh did to those in Canaan at the time when Israel first entered the land as a nation (<a href='B:420 3:13'>Hab 3:13</a>). See on :7. These things will come to full term in the final "day of His wrath" at the return of the Lord Jesus:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the day of His wrath-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The day of Yahweh's wrath is the last day, against the apostate in Israel (<a href='B:50 31:17'>Deu 31:17</a>; <a href='B:290 13:9'>Isa 13:9</a>; <a href='B:290 13:13'>Isa 13:13</a>; <a href='B:330 38:18'>Eze 38:18</a> s:w:) as well as against the "kings" in the eretz promised to Abraham who were to be subsumed beneath the one Messianic king in Zion.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will judge among the nations, He will heap up dead bodies-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the judgment of the latter day of His wrath (:5). "The nations" in view are specifically those within the eretz promised to Abraham. The heaping up of dead bodies is the latter day scenario of Ezekiel 39, and we have noted allusions to Ezekiel 38 in this Psalm.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will crush the ruler of the whole earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Crush" is the word just used in :5 of how Jael pierced or crushed the head of Sisera, an image used for how all the kings in the land promised to Abraham were to be crushed by the Messianic ruler in the final "day of His wrath" (:5; see notes there). The implication is that there will be a singular "ruler of the whole earth", the eretz promised to Abraham; this is the antichrist figure which occurs in so many prophecies. He is the "man of sin" of 2 Thessalonians 2, the individual known as Gog who will be the head or rosh of the confederacy which overruns Israel (<a href='B:330 38:2'>Eze 38:2</a>). I noted on :5 that the phrase "day of His wrath" is also used in <a href='B:330 38:18'>Eze 38:18</a>. Here, "ruler" likewise translates rosh.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will drink of the brook in the way; therefore He will lift up His head- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The simple idea may be that the victorious but exhausted victor drinks from the brook, and lifts up his head in triumph. But we have seen on :3,5 the allusions to the victory of Jael, so Jael smiting off Sisera's head may be the basis of these words about lifting up or off the head. "Brook" translates the same word used of the "river" Kishon in the context of Deborah and Jael's victory (<a href='B:70 4:7'>Jdg 4:7</a>; <a href='B:70 4:13'>Jdg 4:13</a>; <a href='B:70 5:21'>Jdg 5:21</a>). It also connects with David cutting off Goliath's head in an encounter full of echoes of the latter-day conflict between Christ and the surrounding nations:&nbsp;And again the word for "brook" is used in the context of that conflict (<a href='B:90 17:40'>1Sa 17:40</a>):&nbsp;</p><h2></h2>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yah!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here we have another example of Psalms being paired, this time with Psalms 112. Both are alphabetic Psalms; both begin with "Hallelujah" and have twenty lines, divided into ten verses. It is part of the "Hallel Psalms" (Psalms 111-118), chants sung at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which consist of Psalms 113-118.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was very much involved in Israel his people. He saw himself as their representative. When he sung Psalms, he invited them to come and sing along with him (<a href='B:230 105:2'>Psa 105:2</a>; <a href='B:230 107:22'>Psa 107:22</a>; <a href='B:230 111:1'>Psa 111:1</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh’s works are great, pondered by all those who delight in them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :1, this is a Psalm used at the time of Passover, which was all about reflection upon Yahweh's saving works to His people in the past. But the "works" to be reflected upon are not so much the miraculous, physical nature of His work; but His righteousness (:3), grace (:4), faithfulness to His covenant (:5), justice (:7) and salvation of His wayward people (:9). These are all the characteristics of the Yahweh Name declared to Moses in <a href='B:20 34:5-7'>Exo 34:5-7</a>. His Name is His "works" in history, which are to be repeated in the experience of all His people and supremely at the last day. See on :9; <a href='B:230 112:4'>Psa 112:4</a>.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His work is honour and majesty, His righteousness endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :2, the "work" in view is God's saving characteristics. His redemption (:9) of His wayward people was achieved by grace and mercy (:4) which were achieved all the same in justice and righteousness; and not by turning a blind eye to the sins of His people. Paul exults in this throughout Romans 1-8; God's salvation of sinners by grace is achieved by the imputation of His eternal righteousness, and His righteousness and justice is not thereby minimized or bypassed, but rather exalted. "His righteousness endures forever" is alluded to in <a href='B:540 9:9'>2Co 9:9</a> - in the context of arguing that God's "righteousness" is shown in His generosity to others, which we should follow. This is His majestic work; see on :5.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has caused His wonderful works to be remembered; Yahweh is gracious and merciful-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :2, such grace and mercy are an integral part of the Yahweh Name. His works are memorialized, just as His Name is likewise for a memorial or remembrance. See on <a href='B:230 112:6'>Psa 112:6</a>, where the righteous are eternally remembered- because they are identified with the Name of Yahweh, showing His characteristics.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has given food to those who fear Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :3, this passage is alluded to in <a href='B:540 9:9-10'>2Co 9:9-10</a>. God's gift of food is a reflection of His covenant relationship with His people to whom He gives food. This forms part of His eternal righteousness (:3); and Paul is telling the Corinthians that they ought to likewise be generous to those in the covenant who were lacking food. The immediate reference is to God's provision of food to the people in the wilderness, who were to then receive the promised land (:6); appropriate for a Passover Psalm (see on :1). And this is likewise used by Paul in the same section in appealing for generosity to those who lack the ability to go out and gather the manna (<a href='B:540 8:15'>2Co 8:15</a>):&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He is ever mindful of His covenant-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The covenant in view is that to Abraham, which promised eternal inheritance of the land. God is constantly thinking of that covenant and its implications; and so should we be.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has shown His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations-</p><h2>This Passover Psalm (:1) was going to reflect appropriately on the way that after the Passover deliverance, God gave the people the lands of the nations, in Canaan. But this gift of God's Kingdom was by "His works" and not their own. <a href='B:230 44:3'>Psa 44:3</a> makes the same point, that the land was given to them not by their sword but by God's grace . </h2>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are sure-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Divine "works" in view are the gift of the Kingdom to His wayward people (:6). But this was done in absolute truth and justice. As noted on :3, Paul exults in this throughout Romans 1-8; God's salvation of sinners by grace is achieved by the imputation of His eternal righteousness, and His righteousness and justice is not thereby minimized or bypassed, but rather exalted.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>they are established forever and ever. They are done in truth and uprightness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "precepts" in view which are eternal are those of the covenant with Abraham (see on :5), not the Mosaic law. As explained on :3,7, the gift of the Kingdom to the wayward Israelites&nbsp; was achieved with absolute justice, and without God acting immorally or lacking in integrity:&nbsp;</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has sent redemption to His people, He has ordained His covenant forever. His name is holy and awesome!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :8, the eternal covenant in view is that with Abraham (<a href='B:10 17:13'>Gen 17:13</a>), which promised eternal inheritance of the land. That redemption from Egypt (<a href='B:20 6:6'>Exo 6:6</a>) and gift of the Kingdom to Israel was all an articulation of God's characteristics as memorialized in his Name; see on :2. The redemption promised and implied in the covenant with Abraham is ongoing to God's people of all generations (s:w. <a href='B:230 130:7'>Psa 130:7</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Solomon repeats his father David's conclusion that wisdom begins with the fear of Yahweh (<a href='B:230 111:10'>Psa 111:10</a> = <a href='B:240 1:7'>Pro 1:7</a>; <a href='B:240 9:10'>Pro 9:10</a>). This statement is in sharp contrast with the accepted view of the times, that wisdom was held by the sages, and was accessible only by sitting at their feet. But this idea (and it is common enough today too) is subverted by this idea that wisdom begins in each individual heart being in fear of Yahweh- so that wisdom from Him can be personally experienced, taught directly through relationship with Him rather than sitting at the feet of a human sage. "Wisdom" is parallel with getting "a good understanding" by 'doing His work' or obeying His commandments (<a href='B:230 111:10'>Psa 111:10</a> b). The work we are to do for God in obeying His ways is not simply a test of our obedience; it is designed to give us wisdom. Wisdom therefore comes from experience of obedience and relationship with God, rather than from picking up nuggets of 'truth' from human sages. The fear of God is therefore not so much referring to a fear of the consequence of our sins; but the fear or reverance expressed through keeping His commandments (see on <a href='B:230 112:1'>Psa 112:1</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>All those who do His work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm has stressed that salvation and the gift of the Kingdom to God's people is the result of God's work and not our own (see on :2,3,4,6,7). But the Psalm concludes with an invitation for us to participate in that work, to not to our own works towards salvation, but rather to "do His work".</p><h2></h2>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yah!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here we have another example of Psalms being paired, this time with Psalms 111. Both are alphabetic Psalms; both begin with "Hallelujah" and have twenty lines, divided into ten verses. It is part of the "Hallel Psalms" (Psalms 111-118), chants sung at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which consist of Psalms 113-118.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh, who delights greatly in His commandments-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to follow on from the conclusion of <a href='B:230 111:10'>Psa 111:10</a>, speaking of the person obedient to Yahweh's commands. That Psalm has stressed God's faithfulness to His covenant, and I suggested the reference was to that with Abraham, the new covenant. Those promises speak of blessing, but that blessing was to come upon the person who fears Yahweh by delighting in His commandments. For they are the true seed of Abraham. The fear of God is therefore not so much referring to a fear of the consequence of our sins; but the fear or reverence expressed through keeping His commandments (see on <a href='B:230 112:1'>Psa 112:1</a>):&nbsp;</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His seed will be mighty in the land, the generation of the upright will be blessed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the allusion to the promises to Abraham; his seed would eternally inherit the land, which was the blessing promised to Abraham. The "mighty in the land" or eretz promised to Abraham had been the likes of the "giants" of <a href='B:10 6:4'>Gen 6:4</a>; Nimrod / Assyria (<a href='B:10 10:8'>Gen 10:8</a>); Babylon (<a href='B:10 46:12'>Gen 46:12</a>) and indeed all the Gentile nations of the eretz (<a href='B:330 32:27'>Eze 32:27</a>); but the hope of the promises to Abraham was and is that "his seed will be mighty in the land" (<a href='B:230 112:2'>Psa 112:2</a>). There is to be a radical inversion of all things upon the earth.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Wealth and riches are in His house; His righteousness endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is a purposeful ambiguity here, as to whether "his house::. his righteousness" refers to God or to the seed of Abraham which is the immediate context in :2. This is because God's righteousness and generous distribution of His wealth is to be reflected in that of His children, the seed of Abraham. See on :9.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The rest of the Psalm appears to refer to the final judgment of the generous and gracious as opposed to the wicked. The light that dawns in darkness would therefore refer to the final day of resurrection, when the promises to Abraham's seed are finally and eternally fulfilled (:2). "Upright, gracious and merciful" are the characteristics of the Yahweh Name as proclaimed to Moses in <a href='B:20 34:5-7'>Exo 34:5-7</a>. The righteous are therefore those who have manifested that Name in their own characters. The parallel <a href='B:230 111:2-5'>Psa 111:2-5</a>; <a href='B:230 111:7'>Psa 111:7</a>; <a href='B:230 111:9'>Psa 111:9</a> speak of these characteristics as being those of the Yahweh Name; but here they are applied to God's true people. In this lies the significance of our baptism into the Name; that righteousness is counted to us, and we are to live according to the status we have been given by grace through faith. Light arising in the darkness is the language of creation (<a href='B:10 1:4'>Gen 1:4</a> etc:); the resurrection will be the new creation without sin or the possibility of falling. Death is a departure from light to darkness (<a href='B:220 18:18'>Job 18:18</a>). Here we have the opposite, from darkness to light, implying resurrection at the last day (cp. <a href='B:400 7:8'>Mic 7:8</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends; he will maintain his cause in judgment-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The need to be generous as God is generous and gracious is brought to a climax in :9. See on :2. As noted on :4, what is in view is the last judgment. Those who have been gracious will have their case upheld; what solely matters is that God's people have believed in His grace. But faith in that grace will naturally elicit a life of graciousness to others. This is not the same as teaching salvation by works. The Lord's parables likewise make it apparent that the judgment will consider how we have treated others. It is never presented as a theological examination. It is how we have articulated grace to others which is and shall ever be the all important issue.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For he will never be shaken-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"He will never be shaken" is spoken in <a href='B:230 112:6'>Psa 112:6</a> in the context of the outcome of the final judgment. Being unmoved or never shaken is a major theme of the Psalms of David. Human beings naturally seek for stability, but look for it in the wrong places, imagining that their idols shall never be shaken (s:w. <a href='B:290 40:20'>Isa 40:20</a>; <a href='B:290 41:7'>Isa 41:7</a>). It is only the receipt of eternal salvation at the last day which means we shall never be moved; that is the only ultimate stability (<a href='B:230 62:2'>Psa 62:2</a>; <a href='B:230 62:6'>Psa 62:6</a> s:w:). Their stability will be associated with that of God's eternal Kingdom to be centered upon Zion (s:w. <a href='B:230 125:1'>Psa 125:1</a>). For in secular life under the sun, the righteous do suffer and their lives are "shaken". Solomon's statements that the righteous shall never be shaken / moved (<a href='B:240 10:30'>Pro 10:30</a>; <a href='B:240 12:3'>Pro 12:3</a>) are only ultimately true in this sense; but whether he spoke them with that understanding is debatable:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The righteous will be remembered forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again, we clearly have the last judgment in view, when the righteous will be immortalized and remembered forever. The idea of remembrance or memorialization is appropriate to the Yahweh Name. In the parallel <a href='B:230 111:4'>Psa 111:4</a>, it is the Name of Yahweh which is eternally remembered; here the righteous are eternally remembered- because they are identified with the Name of Yahweh, showing His characteristics. Which supremely are summarized in "grace"; see on :5:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will not be afraid of evil news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The stability of knowing that we shall be saved eternally means that we likewise can respond to "evil news" with a steadfast heart. The phrase "evil news" is only used elsewhere in <a href='B:300 49:23'>Jer 49:23</a> about the news of Divine condemnation and judgment. The fact some will be condemned at the last day will not shake our heart, because we trust in Yahweh's grace:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had earlier understood that for the humble and righteous, God can "prepare their heart" (<a href='B:230 10:17'>Psa 10:17</a>). This is evidence enough that God works directly upon the human heart and psychology, which He does today through the work of His Spirit upon the human spirit. For it is men who must prepare their heart in prayer and relationship toward God (s:w. <a href='B:140 12:14'>2Ch 12:14</a>; <a href='B:220 11:13'>Job 11:13</a>; <a href='B:230 7:9'>Psa 7:9</a>). But God can also do this for the humble. Hence David later asks God to create in him a 'prepared' heart (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a>). And God heard; for the same phrase is used of how God 'prepared' or (AV) "fixed" / NEV 'made steadfast' his heart (<a href='B:230 57:7'>Psa 57:7</a>; <a href='B:230 108:1'>Psa 108:1</a>; <a href='B:230 112:7'>Psa 112:7</a>). In allusion to this, Solomon was to later reflect that God can direct or 'prepare' (s:w:) the heart of man, even if he is thinking to direct his steps elsewhere (<a href='B:240 16:9'>Pro 16:9</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His heart is established; he will not be afraid in the end when he sees his adversaries-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"The end" in view is the day of resurrection and judgment. In that day, the righteous such as David will not need to fear their adversaries like Saul when they meet them again. The idea of the heart of the righteous being established or stable at the day of judgment is alluded to in several New Testament passages (<a href='B:600 2:17'>2Th 2:17</a>; <a href='B:600 3:3'>2Th 3:3</a>; <a href='B:650 13:9'>Heb 13:9</a>; <a href='B:670 5:10'>1Pe 5:10</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He has dispersed, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God's generosity is a pattern to us. Thus the words "He has dispersed abroad; he has given to the poor" are used in <a href='B:540 9:9-10'>2Co 9:9-10</a> about God; and in <a href='B:230 112:9'>Psa 112:9</a> about the generosity of the believer. There is a purposeful ambiguity here, as to whether "he has dispersed::. his righteousness" refers to God or to the righteous, which is the immediate context in :8. This is because God's righteousness and generous distribution of His wealth is to be reflected in that of His children, the seed of Abraham. See on :3.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This passage is the equivalent of <a href='B:230 111:3'>Psa 111:3</a>; <a href='B:230 111:5'>Psa 111:5</a>, which is a parallel Psalm. <a href='B:230 111:5'>Psa 111:5</a> defines God's 'dispersal to the poor' as being in terms of food and basic sustenance. God's gift of food is a reflection of His covenant relationship with His people to whom He gives food. This forms part of His eternal righteousness (<a href='B:230 111:3'>Psa 111:3</a>); and Paul is telling the Corinthians that they ought to likewise be generous to those in the covenant who were lacking food. The immediate reference is to God's provision of food to the people in the wilderness, who were to then receive the promised land (<a href='B:230 111:6'>Psa 111:6</a>); appropriate for a Passover Psalm (see on :1). And this is likewise used by Paul in the same section in appealing for generosity to those who lack the ability to go out and gather the manna (<a href='B:540 8:15'>2Co 8:15</a>):&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"His righteousness endures forever" is alluded to in <a href='B:540 9:9'>2Co 9:9</a> - in the context of arguing that God's "righteousness" is shown in His generosity to others, which we should follow. This is His majestic work; see on <a href='B:230 111:5'>Psa 111:5</a>.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His horn will be exalted with honour-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The glorification&nbsp; / honour of the gracious / generous is not seen in this life. But it will occur at the time of :10- when the wicked will be resurrected to see it, and will gnash their teeth, which is the language of the last judgment.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The wicked will see it, and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish- Gnashing of teeth is the language of condemnation at the last day (<a href='B:470 8:12'>Mat 8:12</a> etc:). But those thus condemned will have gnashed their teeth at their brethren in this life (<a href='B:230 35:16'>Psa 35:16</a>; <a href='B:230 37:12'>Psa 37:12</a>). By doing so, they are living out their own condemnation. The rejected 'melting away' from the throne of the Lord Jesus is a repeated Biblical picture. <a href='B:690 2:28'>1Jn 2:28</a> speaks of them as being "ashamed from before him at his coming", the Greek suggesting the idea of slinking away in shame. Another foretaste of this was in the way the condemned world of Noah’s time [the flood was a clear type of the final judgment] were to ‘pine away / languish’ (<a href='B:10 6:17'>Gen 6:17</a>; <a href='B:10 7:21'>Gen 7:21</a> - AV “die”). The wicked will melt away from the Lord's presence (<a href='B:230 68:2'>Psa 68:2</a>). Rejected Israel are described as being "ashamed away" (<a href='B:360 1:12'>Joe 1:12</a>)- the same idea. This is the idea behind <a href='B:650 12:15'>Heb 12:15</a> RVmg: "</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>man that falleth back from the grace of God". Note that Jesus Himself will be likewise ashamed of His unworthy followers (<a href='B:490 9:26'>Luk 9:26</a>); there will be a mutuality in the natural distancing between the two parties. This is the scene of <a href='B:730 16:15'>Rev 16:15</a> - the rejected being made naked in shame. This slinking back in shame will fulfil the prophecies of <a href='B:290 1:24'>Isa 1:24</a>; <a href='B:290 1:29'>Isa 1:29</a> and <a href='B:300 2:35-36'>Jer 2:35-36</a>, which speak of the rejected being made ashamed, becoming ashamed, of their idols They will be made ashamed by the judgment process. Thus we have the picture of them initially arguing with Jesus, growing less and less forcible, giving way to a pleading with tears for a change of mind, finally followed by a silent slinking away in shame. There seems a certain similarity between this and how the combined Gospel records imply that men initially mocked Jesus on the cross, and then eventually slipped away in silence (<a href='B:650 6:6'>Heb 6:6</a>). Adam attempted to hide from God's presence, the Hebrew implying 'to drawn oneself back'. Judas went away (Gk. he retired away) to try to hang himself, once he knew his condemnation (<a href='B:470 27:3-5'>Mat 27:3-5</a>). Speechlessness is a characteristic of the rejected (<a href='B:470 22:12'>Mat 22:12</a>); the brothers slunk away from Joseph's physical presence (<a href='B:10 45:4'>Gen 45:4</a>), as the rejected will.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yah! Praise, you servants of Yahweh, praise the name of Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is part of the "Hallel Psalms" (Psalms 111-118), chants sung at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which consist of Psalms 113-118. This opening verse is an invitation to the Levites or priests as Yahweh's servants to begin the praise at a feast, used also in <a href='B:230 135:1'>Psa 135:1</a>.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed be the name of Yahweh, from this time forth and forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea may be that we will eternally be praising the name of Yahweh; in the sense of appreciating and praising His characteristics. For the declaration of His Name to Moses involved the listing of His characteristics which combine to make up His personality. We can begin living the eternal life now, in that we can now act as we shall eternally. We shall be eternally appreciating, trusting, loving and praising God's Name- and we can begin that now. This is an Old Testament form (also in <a href='B:230 113:2'>Psa 113:2</a>; <a href='B:230 115:18'>Psa 115:18</a>; <a href='B:230 121:8'>Psa 121:8</a>; <a href='B:230 125:2'>Psa 125:2</a>; <a href='B:230 131:3'>Psa 131:3</a>) of the Lord's teaching as recorded in John's Gospel, that we can have and live the eternal life right now. We have that life not in the sense that we shall never die, but in that we can begin living and being now as we shall eternally live and be.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>From the rising of the sun to the going down of it, Yahweh’s name is to be praised-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could mean from the east to the west, but equally from the dawn to dusk, every day. The vision here is of Gentiles coming to Yahweh and praising His Name. Usually, nations changed their gods only because they had been subjugated by other nations by force, and made to worship the gods of their conquerors. But Yahweh isn't like that. The appeals of the Psalms are constantly for people to decide themselves to come to Him, attracted by His grace to His people, who are to be the parade, showcase examples of what covenant relationship with Yahweh means.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could be part of the vision of :3, of "all nations" lifting Yahweh up as high above them. As His glory was over the ark and the blood covered mercy seat in particular, so now the Gentiles are envisaged as being there on the ark, just as Israel were intended to be. But the idea may also be that Yahweh is above all nations, His glory is there above them all- but they are to seek after Him and find Him.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Who is like Yahweh our God, who has His seat on high-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :3, this is an invitation from Israel to the nations to accept Yahweh our God. This Psalm has clear connections with the restoration prophecies (here to <a href='B:290 40:18'>Isa 40:18</a>; <a href='B:290 40:25'>Isa 40:25</a>). The idea was that the exiles would repent, and along with repentant Gentiles, return to form a multiethnic people of God in the restored Kingdom of God in Israel.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who stoops down to view both heaven and earth?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:230 113:6-7'>Psa 113:6-7</a> speaks of how the God who humbles Himself to behold the things in Heaven and earth, is the same God who "raises up the poor out of the dust". His grace at a cosmic level is reflected in the way that on earth He choses to work with the poor rather than the mighty. As we reflect on the ‘Wow!’ factor in God’s calling of us, we need to learn this deeply- that we are the nobodies whom God has called and chosen. That Yahweh has the feature of humility was something totally and radically different to all conceptions of deities amongst the nations; their gods claimed to be proud and invincible, with none of the sensitivity to the lowly which is a part of humility.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The more we begin to even faintly grasp the height of Yahweh's holiness and spirituality, the more we will be awed by His humility in dealing with us. It requires humility from Him to even behold the Angels (perhaps referred to by "heaven"). And yet He lets them discuss His will and come up with their own schemes for executing it, many of which he rejects as somehow inappropriate (<a href='B:140 18:17-20'>2Ch 18:17-20</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the needy from the ash heap-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had seen himself as "poor and needy", needing grace after his sin with Bathsheba and its consequences (<a href='B:230 40:17'>Psa 40:17</a>; <a href='B:230 70:5'>Psa 70:5</a>; <a href='B:230 86:1'>Psa 86:1</a>; <a href='B:230 109:16'>Psa 109:16</a>; <a href='B:230 109:22'>Psa 109:22</a>). He wished Solomon to likewise have pity on the "poor and needy" amongst the Gentiles, those who had likewise repented (<a href='B:230 72:13'>Psa 72:13</a>). And David was especially desirous to himself see the "poor and needy" blessed and accepted as he had been (<a href='B:230 82:3-4'>Psa 82:3-4</a>; <a href='B:230 113:7'>Psa 113:7</a>). It is our personal experience of needing grace which leads us to have a heart for those like us, the poor and needy. Any other motivation will ultimately not abide. Solomon appears to glorify his mother Bathsheba for likewise pitying the poor and needy (<a href='B:240 31:9'>Pro 31:9</a>; <a href='B:240 31:20'>Pro 31:20</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These are the words of Hannah in <a href='B:90 2:8'>1Sa 2:8</a>, and Hannah's song is alluded to throughout <a href='B:230 113:7-9'>Psa 113:7-9</a>. She is presented here as representative of Israel, particularly the exiles in Babylon. Her hope was that Samuel would be not only a priest [although he was not strictly a Levite] but also a prince / king. This is all similar to the idea of <a href='B:230 110:4'>Psa 110:4</a>, where the Messiah was to be a king-priest, not a Levite, but a priest "after the order of Melchizedek".</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that He may set him with princes, even with the princes of His people-</p><h2>The implication could be that the lowly person lifted up is a Gentile, or at least not from the ruling tribe of Judah, who is lifted up to be a prince amongst the princes of Israel God's people. As noted on :7, this is what Hannah had in mind for her son Samuel (<a href='B:90 2:8'>1Sa 2:8</a>). The language of the man exalted from the dunghill (:7 AV) is also that of Job, who was himself a Gentile. The exaltation of the lowly to be with princes recalls Joseph with Pharaoh, Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, Mordecai with Ahasuerus. The latter two were relevant to the exiles, for whom this Psalm appears to have been rewritten.</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He settles the barren woman in her home, as a joyful mother of children. Praise Yah!- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The allusion to Hannah continues; but she was representative to the "barren woman" of Israel in exile (<a href='B:290 54:1'>Isa 54:1</a>), who was to be blessed with many children (<a href='B:290 49:12'>Isa 49:12</a>; <a href='B:290 49:18'>Isa 49:18</a>; <a href='B:290 49:20'>Isa 49:20</a>; <a href='B:290 54:2-3'>Isa 54:2-3</a>; <a href='B:290 60:5'>Isa 60:5</a>; <a href='B:550 4:27'>Gal 4:27</a>).</p><h2></h2>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When Israel went forth out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is part of the "Hallel Psalms" (Psalms 111-118), chants sung at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which consist of Psalms 113-118. Fittingly, therefore, "it divides into four stanzas of four lines each, very evenly balanced, and perfect in its metrical arrangement".</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm appears to be encouraging the exiles to perceive that just as Israel had been delivered from Egypt and brought to Canaan, so they could be from Babylon, and led to the restored Kingdom of God in Israel.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His kingdom-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles had no physical sanctuary, as the temple was in ruins. But this reminds them that Israelites who left Egypt likewise had no temple; they as people were the essence of God's sanctuary. They as a people were "His Kingdom" (<a href='B:20 19:5'>Exo 19:5</a>), the dominion of the King. Their lack of a human king and national territory didn't at all mean that they were not "His Kingdom", or that God was without "His sanctuary".</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The seas and waters symbolically refer to nations; just as the Red Sea and Jordan had literally fled, so would the nations before tiny Judah. The sea is personified as people fleeing because of this intended connection between the seas and nations; the same word is used of the Egyptians fleeing from the returning Red Sea (<a href='B:20 14:25'>Exo 14:25</a>; <a href='B:20 14:27'>Exo 14:27</a>). We are here invited to play "Bible television", to use a phrase of Harry Whittaker; standing on the banks and watching the waters fleeing back. This is exactly the encouragement to the exiles given in <a href='B:290 51:10'>Isa 51:10</a>; the seas would be dried up to make "a way for the ransomed to pass over".</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The reference is to the earthquakes which were associated with the division of the Red Sea. But the mountains are personified as people skipping with joy; just as the waters represent peoples in :3. Mountains and hills represent nation and kingdoms. The hope was that the exiles would repent, and along with joyful, repentant Gentiles, return to form a multiethnic people of God in the restored Kingdom of God in Israel.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>What was it, you sea, that you fled? You Jordan, that you turned back?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea may be 'What do these things mean?'. And the answer is in :7- that the peoples of the earth / eretz promised to Abraham to tremble at Yahweh's presence- in repentance and acceptance of Him. Perhaps we can read "turned back" as referring to repentance.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You mountains, that you skipped like rams; you little hills, like lambs?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :4,5. There is a similar idea in <a href='B:230 29:6'>Psa 29:6</a> "He also makes them to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox", GNB "He makes the mountains of Lebanon jump like calves and makes Mount Hermon leap like a young bull". There is the idea that Lebanon and Hermon, from where the cedars came from, would join in response to God's word. For David ever had the hope of Gentile response to Israel's God. </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Tremble, you earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that as the earth had trembled at the exodus, so it could do again at the restoration from Babylon. But the imperative to "tremble" is a suggestion that we are to read this as an appeal to the peoples of the earth / eretz promised to Abraham to tremble at Yahweh's presence- in repentance and acceptance of Him.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Just as God had provided for His people on their journey to Canaan after delivering them from Egypt, so He would for the exiles from Babylon. Tragically, most preferred to remain in Babylonian exile.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to Your name give glory, for Your the sake of Your grace and truth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is part of the "Hallel Psalms" (Psalms 111-118), chants sung at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which consist of Psalms 113-118. As with Psalms 114, the context appears to be an encouragement to the exiles to not lose heart, even though they couldn't keep the feasts as strictly required. This opening request is for God to glorify the Yahweh Name in order to fulfil His "grace and truth", a phrase often used of the promises to Abraham. The Psalm is asking God to fulfil those promises, which would glorify His Name, in the restoration of the exiles to Zion. Perhaps the request not to glorify the exiles may have in view how popular the exiles became in exile, as witnessed by the end of the book of Esther.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Why should the nations say, Where is their God now?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The way Moses pleaded with God to change His mind and not destroy Israel for the sake of what the surrounding nations would say is indeed inspirational to us all. It surely inspired the psalmist here to pray likewise. The request would be appropriate to the Jewish exiles in Babylon / Persia, mocked for having been forsaken by their God, and the prophecies of restoration apparently not coming true (<a href='B:230 137:3'>Psa 137:3</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The implication may be that this was the answer of the faithful exiles to the mocking observation of the Gentiles that their God was apparently inactive because He was invisible. His visibility however is not related to His activity; and that is the huge difference between the true God and all idols. There may also be the admission that God is active according to His will / pleasure, and as He is omnipotent, that is often going to be above what we can explain to others. There is no shame in our making the same response to those who demand to 'see' our God in more visible action.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is grammatically not addressed to those who mocked the exiles in :2. Rather is this comfort to the exiles, that the idols of Babylon / Persia were indeed dumb. And yet according to Ezekiel and the implications of the book of Esther, idolatry was rife amongst the exiles. So this may have been also an appeal to the exiles to see the idols for what they were.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>they have mouths, but they don’t speak, they have eyes, but they don’t see-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The implication is that Yahweh has all these faculties. This implies that Yahweh is a personal God, and we are made in His image physically, although not morally.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They have ears, but they don’t hear, they have noses, but they don’t smell-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :5. This mockery of idolatry is similar of that addressed to the exiles in <a href='B:290 44:9-20'>Isa 44:9-20</a>; and the context is the same. The exiles are being recalled from idolatry (see on :4):&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They have hands, but they don’t feel; they have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The implication is that the God of Israel doesn't just have a dead semblance of human form, but actually is real and living, in human form; for we are made in His image. His word is spoken through His throat, and elsewhere He is presented as speaking through lips (<a href='B:220 23:12'>Job 23:12</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an abiding principle. We become like that which we worship and trust in. The process of trusting Yahweh will make us like Him. The requirement for faith and worship is therefore for our benefit. The idols have been portrayed as only appearing human; effectively they are dead, with eyes etc. which don't function. And those who worship them become likewise- not really alive as intended, not sensing reality as they are intended. Those who worship vanities become vain (<a href='B:300 2:5'>Jer 2:5</a>). This was exactly the message to the exiles (<a href='B:290 44:9'>Isa 44:9</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Israel, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As discussed above, this was an appeal for Israel to quit idolatry and trust in Yahweh alone. Thereby they would show themselves to be the true seed of Abraham, for whom Yahweh was His shield (<a href='B:10 15:1'>Gen 15:1</a>), and of David likewise (<a href='B:230 28:7'>Psa 28:7</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>House of Aaron, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This can be read as an appeal to the house of Aaron separately to Israel (:9). But often "Israel" are paralleled with the house of Aaron / Levi. And this seems an example of that. <a href='B:230 135:19-20'>Psa 135:19-20</a> parallels all Israel with the priestly family: “Bless the Lord, O house of Israel: bless the Lord, O house of Aaron: bless the Lord, O house of Levi: ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord::. praise ye the Lord”. All Israel were to aspire to the spirit of priesthood. Indeed, the Psalms often parallel the house of Aaron (i:e. the priesthood) with the whole nation (<a href='B:230 115:9-10'>Psa 115:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 115:12'>Psa 115:12</a>; <a href='B:230 118:2-3'>Psa 118:2-3</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As it was God’s intention that Israel were to be a nation of priests to the rest of the world, so the new Israel likewise are to all discharge the priestly functions of teaching their brethren (<a href='B:20 19:6'>Exo 19:6</a> cp. <a href='B:670 2:5'>1Pe 2:5</a>; <a href='B:730 1:6'>Rev 1:6</a>; <a href='B:730 5:9-10'>Rev 5:9-10</a>). Under the new covenant, we should all teach and admonish one another (<a href='B:580 3:16'>Col 3:16</a>). Indeed, God told Israel [unrecorded in the historical records]: “Ye are gods [elohim] and all of you are sons of the Most High” (<a href='B:230 82:6'>Psa 82:6</a> RV). Further, <a href='B:230 96:9'>Psa 96:9</a> makes the paradigm breaking statement that even the Gentiles could come before Yahweh of Israel in holy, priestly array- they too could aspire to the spirit of priesthood (<a href='B:230 96:9'>Psa 96:9</a> RVmg:). Moses spoke of how all Israel should pray that God would establish the work of their hands (<a href='B:230 90:17'>Psa 90:17</a>)- but this was in fact his special request for the blessing of Levi, the priestly tribe (<a href='B:50 33:11'>Deu 33:11</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You who fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Israel professed to "fear Yahweh", to respect Him as their God; but that's not necessarily the same as trusting in Him as help and shield. They are appealed to here, as we are, to go far beyond mere religion, in name only making a religious profession. As discussed on :4 and above, the exiles were veering towards idolatry, whilst claiming to still have Yahweh as their God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh remembers us; He will bless us, He will bless the house of Israel, He will bless the house of Aaron-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles had not in fact been forgotten, as they feared; they could experience the blessing of restoration when they received the blessing of forgiveness from Yahweh. But that required repentance. The allusion is perhaps to the blessing A of <a href='B:40 6:24'>Num 6:24</a>; but this Psalm was used at the feasts (:1), which were to remember / commemorate God's blessing of His people (<a href='B:50 16:15'>Deu 16:15</a>). Yahweh would "remember" His people after punishing them in exile (<a href='B:30 26:45'>Lev 26:45</a> s:w:), and the psalmist asks for that moment to now come:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will bless those who fear Yahweh, both small and great-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "small" perhaps especially thought that they were too insignificant to experience Yahweh's blessings. But the nature of Yahweh's covenant is that He doesn't respect the persons of all who are within it. The blessing of those who fear Yahweh would specifically be at the time when Zion was restored (<a href='B:230 128:4-5'>Psa 128:4-5</a>), and that is what is here in view, in the context of the exiles.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>May Yahweh increase you more and more, you and your children-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This alludes to the blessings promised to Abraham, to multiply his seed or children; and Yahweh would "increase more" His people after their exile (s:w. <a href='B:290 26:15'>Isa 26:15</a>). The exiles had broke the old covenant, and the prophets had invited them to accept a "new covenant", based upon the promises to Abraham rather than the law of Moses.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed are you by Yahweh, who made heaven and earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The God powerful enough to create all things can easily focus that power to the blessing of His people.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The heavens are the heavens of Yahweh; but the earth has He given to the children of men-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The reference may be specifically to the eretz promised to Abraham; it had been promised to Israel, "the children of men".</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The dead don’t praise Yah, neither any who go down into silence-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may be a request to restore the Kingdom in the lifetime of the exiles, or the psalmist in exile; so that they could praise Yahweh for it now, rather than die without seeing it. But all the same the point is established that death is not a conscious state; for even the righteous cannot praise Yahweh in death, which is a place of "silence":&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>but we will bless Yah, from this time forth and forevermore. Praise Yah!- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea may be that we will eternally be praising the name of Yahweh; in the sense of appreciating and praising His characteristics. For the declaration of His Name to Moses involved the listing of His characteristics which combine to make up His personality. We can begin living the eternal life now, in that we can now act as we shall eternally. We shall be eternally appreciating, trusting, loving and praising God's Name- and we can begin that now. This is an Old Testament form (also in <a href='B:230 113:2'>Psa 113:2</a>; <a href='B:230 115:18'>Psa 115:18</a>; <a href='B:230 121:8'>Psa 121:8</a>; <a href='B:230 125:2'>Psa 125:2</a>; <a href='B:230 131:3'>Psa 131:3</a>) of the Lord's teaching as recorded in John's Gospel, that we can have and live the eternal life right now. We have that life not in the sense that we shall never die, but in that we can begin living and being now as we shall eternally live and be.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I love Yahweh, because He listens to my voice and my cries for mercy-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is part of the "Hallel Psalms" (Psalms 111-118), chants sung at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which consist of Psalms 113-118. It sounds very much like a Psalm of David, thanking God for delivering him; but it is here appropriated in hope to the restoration of the exiles. But the reality was that as we see implied in Ezekiel's words to the exiles, and in the book of Esther, the exiles for the most part weren't begging God for restoration and mercy in the spirit of David.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Hebrew grammar here is peculiar; the verb "to love" has no expressed object. <a href='B:690 4:19'>1Jn 4:19</a> may allude here: “We love, because He first loved us".</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Because He has turned His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"As long as I live" is the term used by Hezekiah after his healing (<a href='B:290 39:8'>Isa 39:8</a>), but he doesn't offer to continue calling upon Yahweh in gratitude. We too can so easily forget the wonder of answered prayer, failing to realize that the experience commits us to a lifetime of calling upon Him.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold on me, I found trouble and sorrow-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David felt as if he had been a sacrifice bound to an altar, and therefore about to be pulled into the grave (<a href='B:230 18:5-6'>Psa 18:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 116:3'>Psa 116:3</a>; <a href='B:230 140:5'>Psa 140:5</a>). The allusion is to Isaac and his miraculous deliverance from such cords, thanks to the ram in the thicket whom David is later to understand as representative of the future Messianic saviour; for the Lord quotes David's "My God, why have You forsaken me?" (<a href='B:230 22:1'>Psa 22:1</a>) as the Aramaic sabachthani, "entangled", the word used of the ram entangled in the thicket.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then I called on the name of Yahweh: Yahweh, I beg You, deliver my soul-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>To call on Yahweh meant to sacrifice and worship, and yet David rightly understood that prayer is the essence of such sacrifice and worship, rather than the offering of literal animals. Commonly enough, the New Testament speaks of baptism as a calling upon the Name of the Lord. This must be understood against its Hebrew background- qara' beshem Yahweh, which originally referred to approaching God in sacrifice (<a href='B:10 12:7-8'>Gen 12:7-8</a>; <a href='B:230 116:4'>Psa 116:4</a>; <a href='B:230 116:17'>Psa 116:17</a>). God placed His Name upon places in order to make them suitable places for sacrifice to be offered to Him (<a href='B:50 12:4-7'>Deu 12:4-7</a>; <a href='B:50 12:21'>Deu 12:21</a>; <a href='B:300 7:12'>Jer 7:12</a>). Baptism was thus seen as a sacrificial commitment to Yahweh in solemn covenant.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh is gracious and righteous; yes, our God is merciful-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Mercy and grace indicate that David is recognizing that the answer to his prayer (perhaps at some point after the sin with Bathsheba) was an expression of moral grace and forgiveness to him. And the exiles were to realize this too. But as we see implied in Ezekiel's words to them, their problem was that they considered themselves as good people, and their ancestors as the sinners. "Merciful" is the word for "compassion". But the basis for that compassion was to be Israel's repentance (s:w. <a href='B:50 30:13'>Deu 30:13</a> etc:). But God remembers that we are dust, and He does have compassion for reasons other than that His people have repented (s:w. <a href='B:120 13:23'>2Ki 13:23</a>). His compassion is therefore on the basis of His mercy and grace, rather than a proportionate response to steel willed human repentance and self reformation. His compassion is actually always there for His children, even when they are in exiled punishment from Him (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:20'>Jer 31:20</a>; <a href='B:300 33:26'>Jer 33:26</a>). Solomon failed to perceive this grace, instead focusing solely upon the aspect of God showing compassion to those who are repentant (s:w. <a href='B:240 28:13'>Pro 28:13</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David likens himself to the simple who was made wise by God's word (<a href='B:230 19:7'>Psa 19:7</a>; <a href='B:230 119:130'>Psa 119:130</a>), and was therefore preserved (<a href='B:230 116:6'>Psa 116:6</a>). To be taught by God's word we have to become "simple", unlearning and placing to one side all our perceived knowledge and understandings. Solomon repeats David's theme by saying that wisdom makes wise the simple (<a href='B:240 1:4'>Pro 1:4</a>; <a href='B:240 8:5'>Pro 8:5</a>; <a href='B:240 9:4'>Pro 9:4</a>). But he is equating "wisdom" with the words of God, although for Solomon, "wisdom" seems to be what he is saying and teaching. Solomon doesn't direct his listeners back to God's word, as David did, but rather towards loyalty to his teaching. Inspired as it was, his lack of extended reference to God's law places his own teaching of "wisdom" above that law. This is in sharp contrast to David's attitude in Psalms 119.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Return to your rest, my soul, for Yahweh has dealt bountifully with you-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again we have an insight into David's self talk, which should be a pattern for ours. He was not at peace, but he talks to himself, reminding himself of how God had saved his life earlier, and he was thereby obligated to a lifetime of trust in Him, with the associated peace which comes from that. See on :8.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :7. God's past deliverance of his soul from death meant that now, he should dry his eyes from tears regarding his latest crisIsa.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will walk before Yahweh in the land of the living-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "I shall be well-pleasing before the Lord in the land of the living", an undertaking in response to salvation. This is the language of Hezekiah (<a href='B:290 38:11'>Isa 38:11</a>), although unlike David he failed to remember his salvation from death (see on :3,4) and live the rest of his life in trust and praise. The relevance to the exiles is that they hoped they would in their lifetimes come to return to a restored Kingdom of God in Israel, where they would walk in God's presence, truly "in the land of the living".</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I believed, therefore I said, I was greatly afflicted-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"I believed, and therefore&nbsp; have I spoken" (<a href='B:230 116:10'>Psa 116:10</a> LXX) is quoted in <a href='B:540 4:13'>2Co 4:13</a> concerning the attitude of the preacher; because we have believed, therefore we preach, after Paul’s pattern. We naturally have a debt to preach to all men, as we&nbsp; have a debt to love all our brethren- because of what has been done for us (<a href='B:520 1:14'>Rom 1:14</a>). But the quotation appears to be taking a phrase out of context. David is recalling how he had felt he "was greatly afflicted" and surrounded by liars (:11), and yet had been saved out of that part of his life (:12). But the New Testament doesn't always quote the Old Testament in context; it uses the style of Jewish midrash, in justifying a thought by taking a Biblical phrase out of context. "Context" can be overworked within the task of Biblical interpretation. The GNB in <a href='B:540 4:13'>2Co 4:13</a> gets the point: "The scripture says, "I spoke because I believed." In the same spirit of faith we also speak because we believe". But it could be that Paul perceived that David here was speaking in the spirit of Christ, whom he typified. And so Paul quotes the Messianic <a href='B:230 116:10'>Psa 116:10</a> about our witness, which is to be a living out of the spirit which Jesus had in His death and present life and being in Heaven.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I said in my haste, All men are liars-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is such a thing as feeling lonely when we needn’t. Elijah is an example of this; he felt that he was “left alone” faithful in Israel- even though there were another 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal (<a href='B:520 11:3'>Rom 11:3</a>). The Hebrew in 1 Kings is hard to translate. It could mean that God reserved 7,000 of Elijah’s brothers and sisters who potentially would not bow the knee to Baal. Yet Elijah didn’t want to see the potential of his brethren. He set himself in a league above them, like the Psalmist, saying in his haste that all men are liars.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>What will I give to Yahweh for all His benefits toward me?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is a rhetorical question; what can be given back to God for all His giving toward us? The answer is, nothing; but we can praise God and take the cup of salvation at the appointed feast (:13). Our motivation for taking the cup of remembrance (:13) should be the same.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Salvation" is Yeshua, 'Jesus'. As noted on :1, this Psalm was specifically used at the feasts, and may refer to the associated drink offering (<a href='B:40 28:7'>Num 28:7</a>), similar to the "cup of blessing" at Passover (<a href='B:470 26:27'>Mat 26:27</a>). The salvation commemorated was the "help" (s:w:) of :6. Initially, the reference is to a drink offering offered along with a voluntary thanksgiving offering (see on :17). But in the context of the feasts, it was attached to the Passover, which was the great feast of thanksgiving for deliverance from death. The Jews traditionally sing Psalms 116 after the Passover meal, and the third of the four cups drunk then is called "the cup of salvation". But to take a cup doesn't have to mean to drink it, but rather to accept what had been given from God (<a href='B:230 16:5'>Psa 16:5</a>; <a href='B:230 23:5'>Psa 23:5</a>). So the idea may be that by being open to receiving yet more grace, we thereby render thanks for the grace so far received.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of all His people-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is appropriate to the celebration of a feast, which is when the Psalm was used (see on :1). David had vowed to serve God in response to his salvation from death (:3,4) and he wanted to do this in the presence of God's people, at a feast. David's faith was absolutely public, he was no secret believer. These things have application to the Lord Jesus (:16). His keeping of the last supper was in fact a celebration of the deliverance which He believed was so certain to come that it was as if He had already received it. For that is the essence of faith.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Precious in the sight of Yahweh is the death of His saints-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea may be that David had faced death (:3,4), but his life had been precious in Yahweh's sight. The exiles likewise were precious in the sight of Yahweh (s:w. <a href='B:290 43:4'>Isa 43:4</a>), and He would preserve the national life of Israel:&nbsp; The death and life of Saul had been precious in David's eyes (s:w. <a href='B:90 26:21'>1Sa 26:21</a>), and so David's life was precious in Yahweh's eyes. Again we are taught that God's attitude to our salvation and our life is directly related to our attitude to the life and salvation of others; and this is why we are to perceive the value, the preciousness, of human life and salvation. It is why making others stumble from the path to eternal life is so serious to God. The supremely precious death of all was that of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:670 1:19'>1Pe 1:19</a>; <a href='B:670 2:4'>1Pe 2:4</a>; <a href='B:670 2:6-7'>1Pe 2:6-7</a>), and this Psalm clearly looks forward to Him (see on :13,14,16).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh, truly I am Your servant, I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid. You have freed me from my chains-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm refers to David and later to the exiles, who were potentially freed from the chains of captivity and are declared as Yahweh's servant throughout later Isaiah. But as noted on :15, it clearly comes to ultimate term in the Lord Jesus. For Mary was the supreme handmaid of Yahweh, and she appears to appropriate this verse to herself (<a href='B:490 1:38'>Luk 1:38</a>).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call on the name of Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As discussed earlier in this Psalm, thanksgiving for deliverance from death committed the psalmist and the audience to calling on Yahweh's Name for the rest of their lives. The next verse (:18) repeats :14, and therefore this verse (:17) reflects :13 "I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of Yahweh". The cup of salvation therefore refers to a thanksgiving offering. Although the Mosaic law didn't require a drink offering for a thanksgiving offering, David was eager to serve God to the maximum, and so offered one too.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of all His people-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :14.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>in the courts of Yahweh’s house, in the midst of you, Jerusalem. Praise Yah!- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If the Psalm originated with David, then he is looking forward to the time when a temple would be built in Zion, and he would be there. He would have said this in faith in a resurrection of the body and literal restoration of Zion. The Psalm also has relevance to the exiles. Their temple was then in ruins, but they looked forward to its restoration. The tragedy was that they didn't rebuild it according to the commands of Ezekiel 40-48, and so these things became reapplied and rescheduled to the things of God's Kingdom to be established at the return of the Lord Jesus.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise Yahweh, all you nations! Extol Him, all you peoples!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The invitation is to the Gentile nations to praise God because of His grace toward "us", Israel (:2). This is after the pattern of how David proclaimed to the Gentile world his experience of grace, and thereby urged them to also accept Yahweh as the God of all grace. His pattern was to be that of all Israel. It is part of the "Hallel Psalms" (Psalms 111-118), chants sung at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which consist of Psalms 113-118.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For His grace is great toward us, Yahweh’s faithfulness endures forever. Praise Yah!- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same word used for how David's sins "overwhelmed me" (<a href='B:230 65:3'>Psa 65:3</a>) is used of how overwhelming or "great" is God's grace (<a href='B:230 103:11'>Psa 103:11</a>; <a href='B:230 117:2'>Psa 117:2</a>). David felt overwhelmed firstly by his sin and then by God's grace. This explains his fragile emotional and nervous state, as often reflected in the Psalms. But his path is to be that of all God's true Israel.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Give thanks to Yahweh for He is good, for His grace endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is part of the "Hallel Psalms" (Psalms 111-118), chants sung at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which consist of Psalms 113-118. The Psalm began with David thanking God for delivering him from the various crises of his life, but has been developed into a Psalm of hope for the exiles, thanking God in advance for the restoration of the temple which they looked forward to. The restoration didn't happen as was potentially possible, but these things are reapplied to the things of the Lord Jesus. Therefore some of the phrases in the Psalm are specifically applied to Him in the New Testament.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let Israel now say that His grace endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appeal to Israel to recognize God's eternal grace was pertinent to the exiles; for Ezekiel presents them as having lost faith in His grace, assuming it had somehow ended at the destruction of the temple. We too need to remember that the wonder of Divine grace isn't just historical, but abides for us too:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the house of Aaron now say that His grace endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This can be read as an appeal to the house of Aaron separately to Israel (:2). But often "Israel" are paralleled with the house of Aaron / Levi. And this seems an example of that. <a href='B:230 135:19-20'>Psa 135:19-20</a> parallels all Israel with the priestly family: “Bless the Lord, O house of Israel: bless the Lord, O house of Aaron: bless the Lord, O house of Levi: ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord::. praise ye the Lord”. All Israel were to aspire to the spirit of priesthood. Indeed, the Psalms often parallel the house of Aaron (i:e. the priesthood) with the whole nation (<a href='B:230 115:9-10'>Psa 115:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 115:12'>Psa 115:12</a>; <a href='B:230 118:2-3'>Psa 118:2-3</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As it was God’s intention that Israel were to be a nation of priests to the rest of the world, so the new Israel likewise are to all discharge the priestly functions of teaching their brethren (<a href='B:20 19:6'>Exo 19:6</a> cp. <a href='B:670 2:5'>1Pe 2:5</a>; <a href='B:730 1:6'>Rev 1:6</a>; <a href='B:730 5:9-10'>Rev 5:9-10</a>). Under the new covenant, we should all teach and admonish one another (<a href='B:580 3:16'>Col 3:16</a>). Indeed, God told Israel [unrecorded in the historical records]: “Ye are gods [elohim] and all of you are sons of the Most High” (<a href='B:230 82:6'>Psa 82:6</a> RV). Further, <a href='B:230 96:9'>Psa 96:9</a> makes the paradigm breaking statement that even the Gentiles could come before Yahweh of Israel in holy, priestly array- they too could aspire to the spirit of priesthood (<a href='B:230 96:9'>Psa 96:9</a> RVmg:). Moses spoke of how all Israel should pray that God would establish the work of their hands (<a href='B:230 90:17'>Psa 90:17</a>)- but this was in fact his special request for the blessing of Levi, the priestly tribe (<a href='B:50 33:11'>Deu 33:11</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Now let those who fear Yahweh say that His grace endures forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These "who fear Yahweh" could just be parallel with "Israel" (:2) and the "house of Aaron" (:3). Or it could refer to the Gentile proselytes, who became known in Judaism as the God fearers. David is ever eager for the conversion of the Gentiles.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Out of my distress, I called on Yah; Yah answered me with freedom-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David appeals in :1-4 for Israel and the Gentiles to praise God for His grace. But this was on the basis of how God had shown him grace in answering David's cry at the time of his distress. The intention was that the exiles would likewise cry to Yahweh and be restored, and the Gentiles (:3) would convert to Yahweh because of His grace to them. And ultimately these things come to apply to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus to eternal life, overcoming the "distress" of death itself. And the whole world is bidden believe in this and praise God for it.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh is on my side, I will not be afraid; what can man do to me?-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Whilst this is true as it stands, we note David's tendency to divide people along the lines of whoever is on his side [who will be saved and blessed by God], and those who aren't [who will be cursed eternally by God]. This is a very human tendency. But we must beware of it. The people in David's life were largely amongst God's people; and we are not to judge in the sense of condemning. It's not always so that those not on our side aren't on the Lord's side. Paul lamented that all in Asia turned against him (<a href='B:620 1:15'>2Ti 1:15</a>), and yet it is clear from the Lord's letters of Revelation 2, 3 that there were at least some in Asia who were on His side. And even at the times of persecution by Saul and Absalom, there were some like Jonathan who were on David's side whilst apparently on the side of his persecutors.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I will look in triumph at those who hate me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :6. The day when David would look at his haters in triumph was perhaps not in this life; but rather at the last day. In this case, David clearly understood the doctrine of the resurrection of the body and the last judgment. And yet he seems to see that final judgment as his vindication against his enemies in this life, rejoicing at the thought of their presence at that time. Surely in spiritual terms there are far greater things to look forward to in eternity than seeing our enemies of this life condemned at the day of judgment at the start of that eternity. See on :13.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is better to take refuge in Yahweh than to put confidence in man-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is a picture of Hezekiah in his better years (s:w. <a href='B:120 18:5'>2Ki 18:5</a>; <a href='B:120 18:18-22'>2Ki 18:18-22</a>; <a href='B:120 18:30'>2Ki 18:30</a>; <a href='B:120 19:10'>2Ki 19:10</a>), trusting in God when surrounded by his enemies in Jerusalem (:10).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is better to take refuge in Yahweh than to put confidence in princes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This repeats :8, but with "princes" replacing the more generic "man". The parallel between princes and men is found in <a href='B:230 146:3'>Psa 146:3</a>. Princes are but men, no more than men, and nothing compared to Yahweh. I noted on :8 the application to Hezekiah. Yet he failed in putting confidence in princes, turning to Egypt for help. Yet he repented and was rewarded for his sole faith in Yahweh alone. And yet afterwards, he put his confidence in the princes of Babylon. His intensity of faith was not maintained.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of Yahweh, I cut them off-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the Hezekiah connections (see on :8). The theme of being surrounded continues over the next verses, and this was exactly what happened when Jerusalem was surrounded and miraculously delivered at the time of the Assyrian invasion. But being surrounded by far superior odds is a theme in the lives of God's servants. We think of Samson in a foreign city "compassed in" by his enemies, Paul (<a href='B:510 9:24'>Act 9:24</a>), David (<a href='B:90 23:26'>1Sa 23:26</a>), the spies in Jericho, the returned exiles (<a href='B:160 6:16'>Neh 6:16</a>) etc.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In the name of Yahweh I indeed cut them off-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could initially refer to David's experience in <a href='B:90 23:26'>1Sa 23:26</a>. It is the language of Psalms 2 of the surrounding of Messiah, which is applied in the New Testament both to His death and also to the time of His return to earth.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They surrounded me like bees but they are quenched like the burning thorns. In the name of Yahweh I cut them off-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Faithless Israel had been surrounded by their enemies like bees (<a href='B:50 1:44'>Deu 1:44</a>), and thus driven out from inheriting the land. The faithful exiles were intended to have faith that this would not be the case again- if they believed, and stopped acting like historical Israel.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You pushed me back hard to make me fall, but Yahweh helped me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "you" may refer to David's enemies. It is hard to think it also applies to the "Yahweh" of whom David speaks in the same sentence. This reflects how David seems obsessed with his enemies and opponents, imagining them ever before him, thinking that he was talking to them, and longing to see them again at judgment day and be vindicated by God before them. See on :7.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yah is my strength and song, He has become my salvation-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the language of Israel's exaltation after the Red Sea deliverance, which became programmatic for the future deliverances of all God's people.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous: The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :6,7, David sees the righteous as those who took his side against his enemies. He expects them to all rise up in ecstatic praise when he is vindicated. But David was not always right, and his enemies were raised up and used by God. Not all of them were evil, and some of them were it seems just used as tools in God's hand. He seems to over personalize everything, because of his oversensitivity to words and opposition.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The right hand of Yahweh is exalted! The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly!-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the allusion to the triumphant rejoicing at the deliverance from the Egyptians at the Red Sea (<a href='B:20 15:6'>Exo 15:6</a>). The Psalm speaks in faith of the future possibilities as if they had happened, hence the past tenses.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will not die, but live, and declare Yah’s works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :16, the psalmist is not stating that he has been delivered; he speaks in the past tense of that yet future and hoped for. He has the absolute confidence of faith (:21). The intention of deliverance was that Yahweh's saving works and grace would be declared; and that is what David is doing through this Psalm. And that is the intention for each of us in our experience of answered prayer.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yah has punished me severely, but He has not given me over to death-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Punished" is better "chastened me" (as AV). The allusion is clearly to Job, who was chastened but his life was not taken from him. This is how we should all respond to trial- by seeking Biblical precedent for our experiences.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will enter into them. I will give thanks to Yah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is hard to exactly reconstruct how the Psalms were used in musical arrangement, but I suggest that this is a solo sung by one singer, who has as it were come to the end of the journey to Zion; and then another soloist answers in the words of :20. "The gates of righteousness" are the temple gates; the gates&nbsp; to be entered by the righteous. Or the allusion could be to <a href='B:50 16:18'>Deu 16:18</a> (s:w:), that there was to be righteous judgment in all the gates of the restored Kingdom of God on earth. There is great emphasis upon the gates of the restored Zion (<a href='B:290 54:12'>Isa 54:12</a>; <a href='B:290 60:11'>Isa 60:11</a>; <a href='B:290 60:18'>Isa 60:18</a>), being entered by the restored exiles (<a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a>). But this would be if Judah accepted the new covenant (<a href='B:300 31:38'>Jer 31:38</a>; <a href='B:300 31:40'>Jer 31:40</a>), and built the restored temple as commanded in Ezekiel 40-48. They didn't do these things, and so they are reapplied to the restored Zion of the last days; for the gates of the new Jerusalem are stressed in the final chapters of Revelation. See on :22.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the gate of Yahweh; the righteous will enter into it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As suggested on :19, this is another soloist, replying or perhaps chanting as it were from the temple gate, in response to the solo of :19. The restored exiles were to be counted righteous, by grace through faith in imputed righteousness, as the latter part of Isaiah emphasizes. But they did not repent nor grasp the offer, as noted on :19. </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will give thanks to You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :16, the psalmist is not stating that he has been delivered, for he has not yet experienced it (:17); he speaks in the past tense of that yet future and hoped for. He has the absolute confidence of faith. </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner-</p><h2>This is clearly quoted in the New Testament with reference to Christ's exaltation (<a href='B:470 21:42'>Mat 21:42</a>). But in the context, these words are part of a personal prayer of praise from David for God's healing of him and rescuing him from persecution. The temple could have been rebuilt by the exiles with Zerubbabel as the head stone (s:w. <a href='B:450 4:7'>Zec 4:7</a>). But he failed to be the Messianic figure he could have been, and so the prophecy was reapplied and reinterpreted in relation to the Lord Jesus, the stone (<a href='B:10 49:24'>Gen 49:24</a>; <a href='B:290 8:14'>Isa 8:14</a>; <a href='B:290 28:16'>Isa 28:16</a>; <a href='B:520 9:23'>Rom 9:23</a>; <a href='B:530 3:11'>1Co 3:11</a>; <a href='B:560 2:20'>Eph 2:20</a>; <a href='B:670 2:8'>1Pe 2:8</a>). There may be the hint that the intended rebuilders of Zion would not build as required by the commandments of Ezekiel 40-48 (see on :19). But God's restoration plan would not ultimately fail; for the rejected stone would as it were arise [in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus] and become the cornerstone of a new kind of temple; that spoken of in the New Testament, comprised of living stones of believers.</h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is Yahweh’s doing, it is marvellous in our eyes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The faithful would perceive the wonder of the ultimate restoration of the temple through the reapplication of the prophecies to the Lord Jesus; see on :19,22. It's tempting to assume that it'<strong>s </strong>the natural creation which alone provokes wonder. But Biblically, it's more often God's actions in history, His saving of His Israel, His grace, His undeserved helping of us in practical situations (e:g. <a href='B:300 21:2'>Jer 21:2</a>) which are what should provoke wonder. Otherwise the blind would have no sense of wonder at God. God's whole plan in Christ "is wonderful in our eyes" (<a href='B:230 118:23'>Psa 118:23</a>). It is a "marvellous work and a wonder" (<a href='B:290 29:14'>Isa 29:14</a>; <a href='B:510 13:41'>Act 13:41</a>). Wonder doesn't mean we cease to analyze God's word; it's a sense of touching reality, not a fuzzy feeling of vague speculation.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the day that Yahweh has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The day created by Yahweh is that of the restoration of the Kingdom of God in Israel; see on :27. The day of Yahweh's making is the term used for the creation (<a href='B:10 2:4'>Gen 2:4</a>), but the arising of the rejected stone, the Lord Jesus (:22), would lead to a new creation; the day Yahweh makes is finally to be in the last day of the return of the Lord Jesus to reestablish God's Kingdom on earth (s:w. <a href='B:360 2:22'>Joe 2:22</a>). And the faithful would perceive this and rejoice in it:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Save us now, we beg You, Yahweh! Yahweh, we beg You, send prosperity now-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the cry of the faithful for the promised restoration of the Kingdom to come immediately, in their lifetimes. This was the passion of the faithful exiles, and also of David. "Save now" is the equivalent of "Hosanna", and was the desire of the people of Jerusalem at the Lord's triumphal entry. But He deconstructed those desires for an immediate restoration of the Kingdom. He came to die, and to usher in the kind of Kingdom He taught about in His message about the Kingship and Kingly dominion of God in Christian life. Only in the longer term was there to be the literal establishment of such a Kingdom on earth, at the last day, when those principles will finally be physically and eternally articulated in this earth. The exiles wanted the "prosperity" of the Kingdom immediately; but this prosperity was conditional upon their obedience to the covenant (s:w. <a href='B:60 1:8'>Jos 1:8</a>); they would never "prosper" whilst disobeying it (s:w. <a href='B:50 28:29'>Deu 28:29</a>), nor could they "prosper" to enter the land as intended whilst faithless (<a href='B:40 14:41'>Num 14:41</a> s:w:). The faithful minority amongst the exiles believed God would prosper them (<a href='B:160 2:20'>Neh 2:20</a>), and He was indeed eager to do so (<a href='B:290 55:11'>Isa 55:11</a>); but this was not to be, because the majority were faithless. This prosperity was to finally only be through the work of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 53:10'>Isa 53:10</a>), seeing the potential 'servant' figures of the restoration all failed (<a href='B:290 48:15'>Isa 48:15</a>). David liked to imagine that Solomon would "prosper" because he built the temple (<a href='B:130 22:11'>1Ch 22:11</a>); but such prosperity was conditional.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed is he who comes in the name of Yahweh! We have blessed you out of the house of Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This individual is the rejected stone who revives and becomes the cornerstone. The musical arrangement here may be as suggested on :19,20. This is another soloist, replying or perhaps chanting as it were from the temple gate, in response to the arrival of the King at the temple gates. The 'coming one' was Messiah (<a href='B:470 11:3'>Mat 11:3</a>). These words were sung to the approaching Lord Jesus (<a href='B:490 19:38'>Luk 19:38</a>), but they were totally misunderstood. They will be finally be sung by those of the last day who see the Lord Jesus return to Zion. Thus He interpreted them in <a href='B:470 23:39'>Mat 23:39</a>, where He understands that when Jerusalem sees Jesus again, they will be saying: “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord”. This would suggest they are waiting for Him. And these words being taken from the Passover Hallel here in Psalms 118, it could be that the Lord returns to them at Passover time, when they traditionally expect Him. Indeed, Jerusalem will not see the Lord&nbsp;until&nbsp;they say “Blessed is he</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>”- as if the time of His return depends upon their ‘seeing’ / perceiving Him beforehand.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But the Lord quoted these words to those who were to crucify Him. He was saying that He now was going to stop them 'seeing' / perceiving Him for who He was, so that they would crucify Him. And they would only again perceive Him as God's Son all too late, when at the day of judgment they uttered the words of Messianic welcome "Blessed is He that comes::.". And yet even in this terrible judgment there was interwoven a possibility of hope. They would only perceive Him again as God's Son&nbsp;when, or,&nbsp;until the time that, they recognized Him as Messiah in the Messianic words "Blessed is He that comes::.". Once they made that repentance, they would again perceive / see Him. However, it could be argued that that is axiomatic. The thrust of the Lord's words is surely that in the day of judgment, all too late, they would perceive Him again as He is in truth. But all too late. When they are appointed their portion with the hypocrites and there is wailing and gnashing of teeth,&nbsp;then&nbsp;shall the Kingdom be likened unto the five wise and five foolish virgins:&nbsp;Then&nbsp;the rejected will understand the principles of that parable, crystal clearly. Members of the ecclesia of Israel will say "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord"- but be rejected. Likewise the Egyptians, fleeing in the mud from Yahweh as they vainly hoped against hope that the returning waters wouldn't somehow reach them::. they came to know Yahweh (<a href='B:20 14:18'>Exo 14:18</a>). It could well be that this knowing of Yahweh involves a desperate recounting of their sins, seeing that one of the purposes of condemnation is to make men aware of their sinfulness and the depth of God's grace.</p>&nbsp;


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh is God, and He has given us light-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the phrase used for how God "gave light" at creation (<a href='B:10 1:15'>Gen 1:15</a>; <a href='B:10 1:17'>Gen 1:17</a>). The idea is that a new creation was to come about with the coming of Messiah to Zion (:26). See on :24.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is obviously appropriate to usage in the feasts (see on :1). The exiles had no temple; these words are being said in faithful expectation of the day when the temple would be restored, and a thank offering offered (:28).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You are my God, and I will give thanks to You; You are my God, I will exalt You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the allusion to the song of Moses in thanksgiving for the Red Sea deliverance (<a href='B:20 15:2'>Exo 15:2</a>). The "us" of :27 now becomes "me". The personal wonder of salvation is to be ever appreciated. This is no mere nationalistic fervour of praise for Israel's deliverance, but a deep sense that little me::. has indeed been eternally saved.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good, for His grace endures forever- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This forms the conclusion, in the same words as the opening verses. This great salvation is indeed all of grace, and the God who has seemed distant to the exiles, shrouded behind the problem of evil, will be finally and eternally revealed as ultimately "good".</p><h2></h2>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>ALEPH</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Psalms 119 was apparently initially written at the time of Saul's persecution of David, although there are some verses which reflect David reusing it in later parts of his life. It mentions David as a young man devoting himself to the word rather than riches (:72)- the riches which might have seemed could have been his if he mentally surrendered to Saul, or if he killed Saul and took the kingdom. He often laments how he is in exile from Yahweh's word (:43,46,54), which would have been on account of his being away from the sanctuary at Gibeah:&nbsp; He pleads the promise of the word that he would be preserved from Saul's persecution (:41,58), and several times mentions Saul's attempts on his life (:87,95,109,110). The following verses are evidently relevant to this period: 61,63,67,79,84 (= <a href='B:90 27:1'>1Sa 27:1</a>),95,98 (= <a href='B:90 18:14-15'>1Sa 18:14-15</a>),110 (cp. the 'snaring' with Michal), 119 (the emphasis is on 'You will&nbsp;destroy the wicked like Saul- one day), 125 (David is often called Saul's servant), 150,154 (= <a href='B:90 24:15'>1Sa 24:15</a>), 157,161,165,176. Therefore in the face of such hatred and pain, feeling he must be careful of every step he took, emotionally and physically, David could rejoice: "I will walk at liberty (AVmg. 'at large'): for I seek Your precepts" .</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to Yahweh’s law-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We wonder at David's possible arrogance in assuming that he or any man can walk blamelessly. Only the Lord Jesus fits thIsa. And yet this is the phrase used in God's command to Abraham and his seed (<a href='B:10 17:1'>Gen 17:1</a>). It was only possible for Abraham to do so by his faith in imputed righteousness, by grace through faith. But it's questionable as to whether David at this point realized that; he had to learn it through reflection upon the wonder of how God had counted him righteous after the sin with Bathsheba. </p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed are those who keep His statutes, who seek Him with their whole heart-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is not to be read as David pronouncing himself amongst those who totally kept God's statutes, for he often laments that he doesn't (:5). But he appears to have in view some he knew whom he felt were like this; perhaps Samuel was among them. So many times does David parallel those who seek God with those who keep His word. We will never achieve perfect obedience; but seeking it is paralleled with it. We are progressively coming to know the love of Christ which passes our natural knowledge (<a href='B:560 3:19'>Eph 3:19</a>), to experience the peace of God that passes our natural understanding (Php_4:7):&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yes, they do nothing wrong; they walk in His ways-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In spiritual youth and immaturity, it is easy to consider older, faithful believers as perfect. This Psalm was likely edited over a period of time, and we in see :99 some progression from this youthful imagination that David's teachers were perfect. </p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You have commanded Your precepts, that we should fully obey them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This clearly indicates that at this point, David didn't believe that sin is inevitable. And neither should we, we are not forced to sin by our natures. For the Lord Jesus had our nature but never sinned. We must hang our heads over every sin. And yet we wonder whether the Bathsheba incident made David reassess his position on this; for after that he reflected: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me" (<a href='B:230 51:5'>Psa 51:5</a>).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey Your statutes!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If a man prepares his way after God’s principles (<a href='B:140 27:6'>2Ch 27:6</a>; <a href='B:240 4:26'>Pro 4:26</a>), then God will ‘prepare’ that man’s way too (<a href='B:230 37:23'>Psa 37:23</a>; <a href='B:230 119:5'>Psa 119:5</a>), confirming him in the way of escape. When Solomon teaches that God must be allowed to establish or direct our way (<a href='B:240 4:26'>Pro 4:26</a>; <a href='B:240 16:29'>Pro 16:29</a>), he is using the same Hebrew words as in <a href='B:230 37:23'>Psa 37:23</a> and <a href='B:230 119:5'>Psa 119:5</a>, when David says the same. It’s as if he was given God’s truth and yet he never quite made it his very own- he still articulated it in terms of the faith of his fathers. And thus he lost it in the end:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then I wouldn’t be ashamed when I obey all of Your commandments-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sense may be that when David felt he had been fully obedient, he thereby saw the rest of his life in stark contrast, and was ashamed that he hadn't obeyed all the commandments at other times. But he still seems to fail to realize that even keeping all the commandments for a period of time was still not the path to salvation. He needed to learn the telling detail in <a href='B:490 17:10'>Luk 17:10</a> which reflects the grace of Jesus: "When you shall have done (not 'when you do') all these things which are commanded you, (you will) say, We are unprofitable servants". It may be that this is taking us forward to the Kingdom; it is at the judgment that we 'do all' (<a href='B:560 6:13'>Eph 6:13</a>), it is in the Kingdom that we will obey all the commandments (<a href='B:230 119:6'>Psa 119:6</a>). This parable is a glimpse into the appreciation of grace we will have as we enter the Kingdom; once we are fully righteous, we will realize how unprofitable we are of ourselves (notice we may still feel in a sense " unprofitable" then).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David throughout this Psalm sees a difference between knowing / being aware of God's judgments; and learning them / being taught them. He believes that if God teaches him the real meaning of the laws and requirements which David already knew, then this would lead him to "uprightness of heart" and integrity in worship. This desire for integrity in worship ought to be known to every spiritually sensitive soul; for the words of our songs and hymns are often of an altogether higher level than our average spiritual level.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will observe Your statutes; don’t utterly forsake me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God counted David as having observed His statutes (s:w. <a href='B:110 3:14'>1Ki 3:14</a>), even though he laments that he doesn't observe them as he wished (:5). His desire to observe them was counted finally as if he had done so. But we wonder whether David is correct in thinking that observing the statutes as it were bought God's 'not forsaking' him.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>BET</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Keep::. pure" is the word for "cleanse" in <a href='B:230 73:13'>Psa 73:13</a>, where David later momentarily considers he may have wasted his effort in doing this in his youth. David was to later realize (after the sin with Bathsheba) that cleansing was a matter of God washing the heart by His Spirit, rather than steel willed obedience to "live according to Your word".</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>With my whole heart I have sought You; don’t let me wander from Your commandments-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David doesn't claim total obedience to God's laws, as he so often laments in this Psalm. But he can say that he has sought God wholeheartedly, his desire was for total obedience; and this should be our pattern. He frequently recognizes that there is a power from God available to keep us obedient to His ways; there would be no point in asking "Don't let me wander::." if steel willed obedience was all God is looking for, and waits to see who has that iron in their soul. He is more proactive than that. And this power to keep us from wandering is what the New Testament calls the Holy Spirit, given freely to all who ask and desire to walk in God's ways. David here uses the same word for how Saul 'wandered' out of the way (s:w. <a href='B:90 26:21'>1Sa 26:21</a>), and David seems to have initially written Psalms 119 in his wilderness years; he is asking to be stopped from going the path of Saul (<a href='B:230 119:10'>Psa 119:10</a>; <a href='B:230 119:21'>Psa 119:21</a>; <a href='B:230 119:118'>Psa 119:118</a>). We see this same request for God to make him obedient to God's word, to act directly upon his heart and psychology, in :10,18.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Lord Jesus was the parade example of this, responding to His wilderness temptations as David did to his, by quoting God's word to himself, "in my heart". David often feels that God has hidden him (<a href='B:230 27:5'>Psa 27:5</a>; <a href='B:230 31:19-20'>Psa 31:19-20</a>); and this was God's mutual response to David having His word in his hidden part. Solomon seems to allude to David hiding God's word in his heart (<a href='B:230 119:11'>Psa 119:11</a>) by asking his son to hide his word in his heart (s:w. <a href='B:240 2:1'>Pro 2:1</a>; <a href='B:240 7:1'>Pro 7:1</a>). Again Solomon is putting his own words in the place of God's words. Whilst his wisdom was inspired by God, I detect something wrong here. He is effectively playing God, and not directing people to God's word but rather to his own words, true and inspired as they might be. This came to full term in Solomon's attitude that personal loyalty to himself was loyalty to God- even when Solomon was far from God in his ways. And the same trap is fallen into by those who hold parts of 'God's truth'; they can come to thereby play God and demand personal loyalty to themselves rather than to God:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed are You, Yahweh; teach me Your statutes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>From his youth, David had asked to be taught God's way (<a href='B:230 119:7'>Psa 119:7</a>; <a href='B:230 119:12'>Psa 119:12</a>; <a href='B:230 119:26'>Psa 119:26</a>; <a href='B:230 119:64'>Psa 119:64</a>; <a href='B:230 119:66'>Psa 119:66</a>; <a href='B:230 119:68'>Psa 119:68</a>; <a href='B:230 119:73'>Psa 119:73</a>; <a href='B:230 119:108'>Psa 119:108</a>; <a href='B:230 119:124'>Psa 119:124</a>; <a href='B:230 119:135'>Psa 119:135</a>), and at the end of his life David recognized that indeed God had "taught me from my youth" (s:w. <a href='B:230 71:17'>Psa 71:17</a>). In secular life, teaching is something experienced in youth, and then life is spent practicing what was learned. But in spiritual life, David perceived that the God who had taught him from his youth was continuing to teach him (<a href='B:230 71:17'>Psa 71:17</a>). This is part of the "newness of life" experienced in Christ, the ever fresh spring water that we drink.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>With my lips I have declared all the ordinances of Your mouth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>One danger of Bible study, especially in the age of screens being looked at in private, is that we are left with a mass of wonderful truths and ideas; but they remain within us. As God's mouth had declared His word, so David's lips and mouth would publically declare them. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David doesn't claim total obedience to God's laws, as he so often laments in this Psalm. But he can say that he loves God's word and His ways. His desire was for total obedience; and this should be our pattern. Often in Psalms 119 he contrasts his love of God's word with the love of wealth. The desire for wealth is a typical issue faced by young men. And David sets a commendable example in thIsa:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will meditate on Your precepts, and consider Your ways-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Mere possession of Divine truth will not of itself save anyone; there must be meditation upon those truths, which in turn leads to meditation upon His overall ways, which leads to reflection upon our ways. "Meditate" and "consider" are here in parallel. God's precepts are a "way" of being and not to be considered as isolated, ritualistic demands upon man. For the individual commandments are not mere tests of obedience, but aids towards a way of life.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will delight myself in Your statutes, I will not forget Your word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The command to "not forget [the] word" was given in <a href='B:50 4:9'>Deu 4:9</a> (s:w:). Israel were to never forget that they were in covenant relationship with Yahweh, and the gift of His word to them was so wonderful they were never to forget it. Our awareness of the wonder of having God's word will elicit our delight in it. A John Carter rightly pointed out, our attitude to God's word determines our obedience to it. This is where attitudes to inspiration are so important in practical living.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>GIMEL</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Do good to Your servant; I will live to obey Your word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The 'doing good' is parallel with 'living'. We can interpret this as meaning that David asks God to preserve his life, because he promises to use that preserved life to obey God's word. Perhaps the word in view was specifically the word of promise that David was to become king and govern according to God's will.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of Your law-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The allusion may be to the Angel opening Hagar's eyes to see a well of water (cp. the word) in the desert (<a href='B:10 21:19'>Gen 21:19</a>). See on 119:135. We see this same request for God to make him understand and be obedient to God's word, to act directly upon his heart and psychology, in :10,18,27,29,34-37. LXX "Unveil thou mine eyes" suggests David felt as Moses, who spoke to Israel from behind a veil, but unveiled himself in the presence of God in the tabernacle "outside the camp". David felt his seeing wonderful things in the law were those moments of personal, unveiled encounter with God which Moses experienced. We see this same request for God to make him understand His word, to act directly upon his heart and psychology, in :10. Recall how the Lord Jesus opens hearts to His word (<a href='B:490 24:31-32'>Luk 24:31-32</a>; <a href='B:490 24:45'>Luk 24:45</a>; <a href='B:510 16:14'>Act 16:14</a>). Therefore pray briefly before you read the Bible, as you would for daily food, thanking God for the power and grace of His word, and asking for your eyes to be opened to the real meaning, and that you will have God's gracious help to apply it in everyday life.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We should also consider that 'opening eyes' is used as an idiom for being granted a revelation of God's word in a prophetic sense (<a href='B:40 24:4'>Num 24:4</a>; <a href='B:40 24:16'>Num 24:16</a>). David was indeed a prophet (<a href='B:510 2:30'>Act 2:30</a>). The "wondrous things" (s:w. "hidden things", <a href='B:50 30:11'>Deu 30:11</a>) of the torah were ultimately the things of the Lord Jesus, which David indeed perceived (<a href='B:510 2:30'>Act 2:30</a>). But they may also refer to God's miraculous acts which David vowed to share with others now his eyes were opened to them (<a href='B:230 9:1'>Psa 9:1</a>; <a href='B:230 26:7'>Psa 26:7</a>; <a href='B:230 78:4'>Psa 78:4</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>). This verse is parallel with <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>, where the same term for "wondrous things" is used. David there asks to be made to understand them; this is the opening of his eyes here spoken of.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I am a stranger on the earth, don’t hide Your commandments from me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>On the run from Saul, David felt like a Gentile in the land. But thereby he became a true seed of Abraham, who was likewise a stranger in the earth / land of promise. David had the commandments; he wanted them to be opened to him, and not hidden. We see here the way that God can both open and close minds to His word.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My soul is consumed with longing for Your ordinances at all times-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Devotion to God's word can so easily be something we only temporarily manifest. But David longed for God's words "at all times". This 'longing for the ordinances' requires us to read in an ellipsis- David longed [to be obedient to and understand] the ordinances. Perhaps he refers to his desire whilst in the wilderness to be able to come before the sanctuary (from which he was exiled by Saul's persecution); this is a common theme of his wilderness Psalms (e:g. <a href='B:230 42:2'>Psa 42:2</a> cp. <a href='B:50 31:11'>Deu 31:11</a>; <a href='B:290 1:12'>Isa 1:12</a>).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You have rebuked the proud who are cursed, who wander from Your commandments-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David here uses the same word for how Saul 'wandered' out of the way (s:w. <a href='B:90 26:21'>1Sa 26:21</a>), and David seems to have initially written Psalms 119 in his wilderness years. The proud therefore refers to Saul; Saul's curse was that he would not be king any more, but would be replaced by David. The "rebuke" was that Saul would be replaced as king by David.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Take reproach and contempt away from me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was always deeply hurt by words; the reproach and contempt from Saul hurt him so deeply, especially as it implied that he was disobedient to God's statutes.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For I have kept Your statutes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Psalms 119 reflects David's awareness that he didn't keep God's law as he should. The first four verses speak of the blessedness of the man who is obedient. But he laments: "O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Then will I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments" (<a href='B:230 119:5-6'>Psa 119:5-6</a>). He seems to be saying that when he feels he is obedient, it makes him feel ashamed because he realizes how far short he has come of obedience at other times and in other ways. He concludes this matchless psalm of praise for God's word with a seeming paradox: "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget they commandments" :176). Yet often throughout the Psalm he remarks how he has kept God's law, and will thereby be justified (e:g. :22). He expresses no doubt about salvation. The resolution of all this seems to be that we can know that we are obedient to the basic way of life inculcated by covenant relationship with God, and be comforted by this fact; whilst at the same time realizing how very far we come short of total obedience, and therefore how far we fall short of the spiritual blessedness which is attainable for us even now. Yet despite an agony as to his failures, David still had a remarkably open and enthusiastic relationship with God.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Though princes sit and slander me, Your servant will meditate on Your statutes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "For princes sat and spoke against me: but thy servant was meditating on thine ordinances". This implies that Saul and his sons, the princes (apart from Jonathan), sat and slandered David in his presence. But in the face of slander he meditated upon God's words. This is a great example to all who are slandered.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Indeed Your statutes are my delight and my counsellors-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was in a very difficult situation whilst living at Saul's court. Everybody likely advised him differently, all doubtless dogmatic that their advice must be followed. And he as a young man, a shepherd boy, could easily have been caught in an endless complex of indecision. Instead he delighted in God's words and found that word to come alive; those verses of print on paper became as it were his counsellors:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>DALED</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My soul is laid low in the dust; revive me according to Your word!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David felt at times that he would surely perish ["in the dust"] at Saul's hand (<a href='B:90 27:1'>1Sa 27:1</a>). But he was revived from that depression by his faith in God's prophetic word that he would indeed one day be king and Saul's persecution would pass.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I declared my ways, and You answered me. Teach me Your statutes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This declaration of his ways was perhaps an opening up of his life to God. Although God knows all things, we are to tell Him of our life experiences and feelings. And God responded; He opened up His statutes to David, full of personal meaning and relevance to David.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let me understand the teaching of Your precepts! Then I will talk of Your wondrous works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This verse is parallel with <a href='B:230 119:18'>Psa 119:18</a>, where the same term for "wondrous things" is used. David there asks to have his eyes opened to these things; here, to be made to understand them. Again we see his belief that God can act directly upon human hearts to make us understand.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David in the Psalms often makes the link between appreciation of God’s ways and the inevitable witness this will result in. This contrasts with our tendency to amassing of pure, intellectual truth- but without very much telling of it forth to others. “He that is wise [i:e:, has true wisdom] winneth souls” (<a href='B:240 11:30'>Pro 11:30</a> RV).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My soul is weary with sorrow: strengthen me according to Your word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The particular "word" in view was not simply 'the Bible' as David then had it, but the specific word of promise that Saul's persecution would one day end, and he would become king. His weariness is perhaps at the time of <a href='B:90 27:1'>1Sa 27:1</a>, where he felt he would perish at Saul's hand.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Keep me from the way of deceit. Grant me Your law graciously!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>AV "Remove from me", again suggesting as noted on :18 that God can keep us from temptation, acting directly on the human mind. This is the whole purpose of praying "Lead us not into temptation". The answer to this request to be kept from a deceitful way of life was to be through being given God's law. Yet David had God's law in the sense that he knew the various commandments. We may have to therefore read in an ellipsis: "Grant me [to keep / have in my heart] Your law". See on :30.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have chosen the way of truth, I have set Your ordinances before me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In :29 David has asked to have the way of deceit removed from him; but he himself had chosen the way of truth. His request in :29 is therefore that he should be spiritually and psychologically confirmed by God in his choice; and he had set God's laws before him so that God could work through that; see on <a href='B:230 25:12'>Psa 25:12</a>.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I cling to Your statutes, Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Referring to the plea to cling or cleave to God so that Israel might enter and inherit the Kingdom (<a href='B:50 30:20'>Deu 30:20</a>). To cling to God is to cling to His words; for God is His word, "the word was God", and our attitudes to His word are our attitudes to Him.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t let me be disappointed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Typical of men of his time, David seems to fear shame [s:w. "disappointed"] more than death itself. Defeat meant shame, and he desperately begged not to be shamed. Perhaps it was the function of his failure with Bathsheba to help him redefine the motives for his trust in God.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I run in the path of Your commandments, for You have set my heart free-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is a great theme of this Psalm; that obedience to God is not a life of being shut up in a boring and constricted path of being, but rather is the way of ultimate psychological freedom. And it is this which many seek for, and yet look for it in all the wrong places.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>HEY</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Teach me, Yahweh, the way of Your statutes; I will keep them to the end-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David often suggests that understanding God's laws is what empowers keeping them. He didn't see them as a set of ritual commands to be obeyed for the sake of it, to as it were prove ourselves to God. Rather does he perceive them as a way of life, and he asks God to teach them to him. He knew the various regulations of the Mosaic law; but to keep them as a way of life he needed to have them explained to him. And he asks God to directly visit his heart and open his eyes to their true meaning. Mere possession of those laws was not enough without further guidance.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Give me understanding, and I will keep Your law; yes, I will obey it with my whole heart-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :18, David repeatedly asks for psychological strength in order to be obedient to God's law. This is the Old Testament equivalent of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. See on :33.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Moses persevered because he understood. “Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law” (<a href='B:230 119:34'>Psa 119:34</a>) is one of many links in David’s thought between understanding and obedience. " For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter" (<a href='B:480 7:29'>Mar 7:29</a>) shows the value which the Lord placed on correct understanding. The Gentile woman had seen the feeding of the 5,000 and understood the implications of the lesson which the Lord was teaching. We get the feeling that the Lord was overjoyed at her perception and therefore made an exception to His rule of not being sent at that time to the Gentiles, but to the house of Israel:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is&nbsp; significant&nbsp; that &nbsp;Solomon's&nbsp; spiritual&nbsp; life&nbsp; has&nbsp; more appearance&nbsp; of&nbsp; spirituality&nbsp; the&nbsp; closer we get back to David's death:&nbsp; David had asked for wisdom (<a href='B:230 119:34'>Psa 119:34</a>), and even Solomon’s request for wisdom can be seen as rooted in a desire to live out parental expectation more than purely from his own volition. For David had told him: “Thou art a wise man” (<a href='B:110 2:9'>1Ki 2:9</a>), and Solomon wanted to live up to that expectation. In&nbsp; other words, David's influence was extremely strong, but&nbsp; it&nbsp; decreased over the years.</p>


